Betting big on the Indian growth story, South Korean consumer durables major LG today said it will invest about $1 billion here for marketing and research over the next five years.
"We will be investing around $1 billion (about Rs 5,000 crore) in the next five years on R&D and marketing," LG Electronics India Managing Director Moon Bum Shin said.
For the past couple of years, the Korean major has been investing around $130 million a year on R&D and marketing. Now, LG has chalked out plans to pump in more money in these areas to push sales and expand research activities.
"Going forward, we are going to increase it (investments) ... To around $200 million every year . India is the fastest growing market for us and is the focus area," Shin said, adding that the Indian operations were averaging a growth of 30 per cent annually.
LG's India chief said that R&D and marketing investment would be apart from what the group would pump in for creating new capacities and expansion to meet the growing market needs.
The company has already invested around Rs 1,200 crore in setting up manufacturing plants in India. It has two manufacturing units here, one each in Pune and Noida.
The company is primarily banking on the sale of LCDs and mobile handsets to drive growth in India and is also looking at setting up a production unit for LCDs in the country.