Philips India is planning to raise its borrowing limit from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,000 crore.
Murali Sivaraman, managing director and CEO, Philips India, said, "The resolution will be placed before shareholders for approval at the company's annual general meeting tomorrow. Currently, we have a capacity of Rs 400 crore which we intend to increase to Rs 1,000 crore.”
According to Sivaraman, the company intends to increase its borrowing capacity in order to be able to fund acquisitions, as and when opportunities arise. Also, a higher borrowing capacity would enable the company to expand manufacturing capacities and fund other expansion plans, Sivaraman said.
Having made two acquisitions recently, Philips is now looking at acquisitions of companies which fall in the health and wellness category or in the consumer lifestyle domain.
“We made two buy-back offers in 2008 and 2009 for Rs 260 and Rs 240 per share respectively. We do not intend to make any buy-back offers immediately,” Sivaraman said.
New ventures
Philips India expects to introduce its mother and childcare products in India this year. “We already have a leadership position in the market in healthcare products. The natural extension is mother and babycare products, like bottles, among other things,” Sivaraman said.
He is of the opinion that the mother and babycare products are a nascent market in India but Philips would be able to break into the clutter. Philips’ acquisition of Avent would mean that the Philips Avent range of mother and childcare products are introduced in India soon. Philips Avent is a company based in England manufacturing baby bottles, breast pumps, and other baby feeding and health accessories.
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Philips also intends to introduce a new range of accessories, especially for categories like laptops and mobiles. It would also introduce a new range in personalcare, like shavers and hair dryers, among other personal grooming products.
Among other plans, Philips intends to make India a major export hub for products like cardio-vascular X-ray and water purifiers.
“Currently, exports contribute a negligible sum to our overall revenues, but this ratio is expected to grow with our new products range and intention to make India a global export hub,” Sivaraman said.