Toshiba forays into home appliances

Japan's $59-billion Toshiba Corporation today announced its entry into the Indian home appliances market with the launch of a line of refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens with further plans of bringing other white goods, including vacuum cleaners, rice cookers and hot pots.

The Japanese major is making the foray through its 100 per cent Indian subsidiary Toshiba India Pvt Ltd, which already has a presence here in the power, semiconductors, office automation products, personal computers, consumer electronics and medical equipment sectors.

The home appliance products will initially be available in Mumbai after which the sales network will be expanded.

The complete range of home appliances will be imported by Toshiba India and distributed to the dealers and retailers directly.

"Toshiba is coming directly with a massive plan of advertisement and promotion to create a pull in the market. I am quite confident that the Indian consumer will appreciate the advanced technology and Toshiba's unbeatable quality, which will be properly explained and demonstrated to the consumer by the trained personnel at each and every retail point," said Harry Fujimaki Yoshihiro, country manager, Toshiba Consumer Marketing Corporation, in a press release.

Toshiba will launch as many as 12 models of high technology refrigerators in a price range varying from Rs.16,000 to Rs.61,000.

The Japanese company's will also sell five fully automatic washing machine models complemented by two twin-tub models priced in the band of Rs. 9990 to Rs. 34,000. Its microwave oven will cost Rs.18,000.

"There is paradigm shift from the 200L direct cool refrigerator to the larger capacity frost free models ranging from 230L to 320L, also 5 kg semiautomatic washing machine to 6 to 6.5 kg fully automatic washing machines," said Pranab Mohanty, Head - Home Appliances & IT Division, Toshiba India.

"Gradually these models from both the categories will become most demanding models in the industry. The current trend in the Indian white goods industry is a rapid shift towards high-end technologically advanced products and, therefore, this is the right time for Toshiba to launch the complete range of advanced technology Toshiba white goods to meet the need of Indian consumers."

Apart from Japan, the 130-year-old brand also household appliance production bases in Thailand, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt with the Thailand facility used to supply international markets.