The Hindu Business Line : BPL spots 8 new growth areas

The future
The eight areas are consumer electronics & telecom with focus on wireless, energy communications, enterprise communications, healthcare, tooling & precision plastics, components, power generation and technology services.
The company plans to revive businesses such as alkaline battery manufacture, plastics tooling & moulding, healthcare business and PROFX.

Bangalore , May 2

After recently unveiling its blueprint for growth strategy, the BPL group has identified eight areas including foray into mobile handset manufacturing which can drive its growth.

Company sources said the eight areas which are being currently reviewed are, consumer electronics & telecom with focus on wireless, energy communications, enterprise communications, healthcare, tooling & precision plastics, components, power generation and technology services.

The sources said the rationale behind zeroing in on these areas are that they represent attractive market segments and are based on the erstwhile strengths of the BPL Group, which include brand channels, service, customers and other market facing strengths.

"The BPL brand has a very high degree of brand recall among the customers," they said.

They said that one of the reasons for planned foray into mobile handset manufacturing is that BPL is a well-known brand among customers, especially in places where it is a mobile service provider. In this area, BPL is exploring options like tying up with a foreign partner who wants to set up a facility in the country or wants to market his products in the country.

Business revamp

The company also plans to revive businesses such as alkaline battery manufacture, plastics tooling & moulding, healthcare business and PROFX. The revival is planned through partnerships and international tie-ups. In the case of batteries, it is now focussing on exports to European markets instead of Asian markets as in the past.

In the automobile business, BPL supplies high-grade plastics to auto majors like Toyota across the country. More emphasis will be placed on expanding the portfolio of automotive clients as well as consumer durable brands across the country.

In the healthcare business, the company has the largest market share of portable heart care devices in the country. More products are being included in the portfolio, including foetal monitors and ultra sound scanners.

PROFX, which are the retail high-end audio, home theatre stores from BPL, represents some of the world's leading manufacturers of audio, home theatre and Hi-Fi products. They will soon add more international brands and also roll out retail stores in more cities, the sources said.

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