Weston adds new capacity

2 units set up in Dehra Dun

Looking to make a comeback in the domestic market, the Rs 450-crore Weston Electronics today said it had added new capacities and would double its dealership network in the current financial year.

The company, which sells the weston brand of colour televisions and DVDs, has set up two new manufacturing units in Dehra Dun at an investment of Rs 4.5 crore.

"The plants have three lines of production, one for colour television with a capacity of 50,000 units per month and another for DVDs at one lakh unit per month," Weston Electronics Vice-President, marketing, Sunil Sethi said.

The third line is for air conditioners, which have a capacity of 25,000 units a month, he added. The new additions take the number of Weston's manufacturing units in India to nine. Sethi said the company was looking at capturing 4 per cent of the colour television market in India.

"For the purpose, dealership expansion was taking place. By the end of the year, we would be doubling our present dealership strength of 1,100," he said, adding, in the first quarter of the current financial year, the company added about 250 new dealers.

The company, which mainly sells colour televisions in C class towns, is taking the DVD route to register a presence in A and B class cities, he added.

"While our colour television is mainly sold in the C class towns, our DVD players are sold across all cities. Through our DVDs, we are looking to bring our colour television in these cities," he said.

"We were expecting a growth of about 35-45 per cent in the domestic colour television sales," Sethi said. The company had also increased its advertising budget, he added.

"This year we would be spending 35 per cent more than the money spent last year on advertisement," he said, adding, the company would actively involve electronic media advertisements and below-the-line activity promotions apart from print campaigns.

The company spent about 4 per cent of its turonver on media campaigns last fiscal.

Sethi said in order to shore up its market share, the company would continue to follow "The Chinese model of mass production of low-priced quality products."

Weston had recently introduced a range of low priced flat colour televisions in the range of Rs 3,990 for 14 inch sets and Rs 12,790 for 29 inch sets.

The company also planned to introduce air conditioners, microwave ovens and washing machines in the dometic market in future, Sethi added.

Overall, the company was eyeing a turnover of Rs 600 crore with domestic sales contributing about 35 per cent, exports about 15 per cent and the rest from its OEM business, he said.