Hotline unit in Gwalior to make CTVs for NEB

NEB Electronics Pvt Ltd, a new entrant in the Indian colour television market, has joined hands with the Hotline group to get colour television sets manufactured on a contractual basis.

The Hotline group will manufacture sets for NEB at its Gwalior unit for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh market. For the rest of the country, the group's Noida unit will chip in.

"We have placed an order for 24,000 units to be produced at Hotline's Gwalior unit. These sets will be distributed in Madhya Pradesh through our Gwalior centre. The production will start on September 7. We will launch our sets within a week in the markets of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," Eric Bragenza, NEB managing director, told Business Standard in Bhopal.

He said his company was poised to be among the top ten players. "We will be focusing on markets of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to offer world-class colour televisions sets in the price band Rs 4,690"�6,490, with a sales target of 200,000 this year," he added.

The company will not contest with leading players like LG or Samsung, but try to tap the untapped market. "The Indian colour TV market is huge and has room for all. At least 90 lakh colour television sets can be sold this year, of which we will account for 2 lakh," Bragenza said, adding, "Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will corner a larger share in the market."

The company is looking also at the air-conditioning (AC) and cooler markets. It is exploring possibilities of setting up a cooler manufacturing unit in Madhya Pradesh. It will manufacture window and split ACs of 1 tonne and 1.5 tonnes.

"The Madhya Pradesh government has nothing to offer for a company like us. There are a number of constraints here, while facilities, sops, and exemptions are very few. We are planning to set up an air-conditioner manufacturing centre in Himachal Pradesh with a capacity for 25,000 units in the first year.

The plant will be operational by December 2004 or January 2005," Bragenza said.

The company is expecting to clock a turnover of Rs 165 crore in the first year of operations from colour television sets, VCD players, and DVDs.

"Madhya Pradesh is expected to account for Rs 25 crore," Braganza said.