Thomson Consumer Electronics, the electronics arm of the $16 billion French conglomerate, Thomson Group, plans to invest between Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore over the next few years in India.
TCE currently markets Thomson and RCA brand of colour televisions(CTVs) and audio & video products through its Indian subsidiary, Thomson Consumer Electronics India Ltd (TCEIL). The company posted a turnover of Rs 200 crore for the year ended December 31, 1997.
"Our investment package for India will focus on expanding commercial operations, brand promotion and the possibility of setting up a second manufacturing & assembly facility," said Alain Carlotti chairman Thomson MultiMedia Asia. Charlotti was in Calcutta to inaugurate the group's first exclusive showroom in the country.
"We have outlined a broad plan to set up a second manufacturing facility in northern India. A final decision, however, will come only after other details are worked out," he said. TCEIL currently has a manufacturing and assembly unit at Chennai.
"TCEIL has registered a 35 per cent increase in sales during the first half of the current year," said V Kumar Chopra, managing director, TCEIL. "We are targeting a turnover of Rs 300 crore during the current year." TCEIL is a 51:49 joint venture between Thomson MultiMedia Asia (a wholly-owned subsidiary of TCE) and Obul Reddy of Dyanora fame.
TCE owns some of the popular American and European brands like RCA, GE, Proscan, Telefu-nken, Nordmende, Ferguson, Saba and Brandt. Regarding introducing some of these brands in the country, Charlotti said, "We have our options open."
However, the immediate marketing strategy of TCE will be to promote Thomson as the high-end brand while the RCA brand, with its wide range of CTVs, will be placed a shade below but will address the high, medium and low-end segments.
Thomson will expand its chain of exclusive showrooms or Thomson Techno Shoppe in India which will display an entire range of products, especially in the high-end category.
Among the top end products to be introduced is the Plasma TV priced at $25,000 which will be launched in October.
TCEIL started its Indian operations in 1994 and has posted an 85 per cent volumes growth pa in CTVs during the past three years. "We have an all India market share of five per cent in CTVs and a 4.5 and three per cent in VCRs and audio segment respectively," Chopra said.
"We hope to garner an all-India market share of 10 per cent in CTVs by the turn of the century."
TCEIL currently imports nearly 50 per cent of the components from abroad and will focus on localising its operations to counter rise in import costs.
