Philips electronics arm eyes Rs 400 crore sales this Diwali

The consumer electronics division of Philips India Limited hopes to break into the top four brands in the domestic consumer electronics industry during this Diwali season.

Addressing a press conference, Suresh Sukumaran, business head of Philips India Consumer Electronics, said: "The company is confident of achieving sales target of Rs 400 crore during this festival season, as compared to around Rs 300 crore achieved during the corresponding festival season last year."

He said that the company has earmarked an advertisement budget of around Rs 20 crore for this season, when the prices of the entire product range of the company will be brought down by an average of 20 per cent.

"We would be launching some new products for the first time during the Diwali season and have firmed up the most aggressive prices for our product range, which nobody in the industry is offering," Sukumaran said.

Philips India expects to touch Rs 1,000 crore in consumer electronics business during the current fiscal as compared to Rs 700 crore in the last fiscal. "The division aims at doubling its business to Rs 2,000 crore in the next three years," he said.

The company currently has a market share of around 6.8 per cent in the colour television segment and plans to increase it to around eight per cent by the end of the current fiscal, according to Sukumaran.

"The market is expected to grow at around eight per cent to around 75 lakh units this year in the flat and large screen segments from around 71 lakh units sold last year and we hope to capitalise on this for our growth," he said.

The company expects DVDs to contribute around Rs 200 crore and the home theatre systems to contribute around Rs 150 crore per annum from next year onwards.