Consumer durables major Panasonic India today said it was witnessing strong growth in the home appliances segment with made-in-India refrigerators.
"We aim for strong growth in the home appliances business. In FY19, revenue will be about Rs 800 crore from Rs 550 crore last fiscal. By 2021, we are aiming to double the same to Rs 1,600 crore," Panasonic India Home Appliances head Gaurav Minocha told PTI.
The home appliances segment for Panasonic constitutes of refrigerators, washing machines and microwaves and accounts for about 16 per cent of the total consumer durables business.
Minocha said with the company manufacturing refrigerators in India at its Jhajjar plant since April, this product line would see robust growth.
"Last year, imported refrigerators constituted 80 per cent, while in the current fiscal, this share will be through made-in-India refrigerators," he said.
The company hopes to garner three per cent market share in the frost-free refrigerator segment in the fiscal 2018-19 with a "three-fold growth" over last year.
Panasonic India is also ramping up the number of sales outlets to 12,500 in the next three years from the existing 7,500 outlets.
Speaking about washing machines, Minocha said they are being manufactured in India since 2012, but semi-automatic ones are outsourced from third-party vendors.
"There have been discussions on manufacturing semi-automatic washing machines in our own manufacturing facilities based on suggestions. However, there has been no firm plan in this regard," he added.
Panasonic Group's total India business touched Rs 10,200 crore in 2017-18, up from Rs 9,600 crore in 2016-17.
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