The Hindu Business Line : Moser's decisions appear strategic

Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 ePaper

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Moser's decisions appear strategic

Product diversification on the cards

BL Research Bureau

Moser Baer has taken two key decisions last week and both of them appear strategic in nature.

The move to enter the PC peripherals - keyboard, mouse, speakers - market indicates its expansion of product base. The estimated market size is Rs 12,000 crore for domestic peripherals. Moser Baer expects Rs 20-crore revenue from this foray.

It does seem logical that the manufacturer of floppy disks, compact disks and digital versatile disks would want to get into other PC peripherals manufacturing. With low PC penetration levels in India, a ramp-up in sales volumes by various domestic vendors could present it with opportunities to partner with these vendors. The foray may also enable the company to cater to the huge "assembled PC" market and leverage on its existing channel-sales.

The other key decision is the proposed investment of Rs 2,000 crore to set up a solar photovoltaic fabrication unit in Chennai. The unit will manufacture photovoltaic films, which are used to harness solar power for power generation. With a sizeable demand-supply mismatch in the country and a thrust on non-conventional and pollution-free energy sources, there appears a sufficiently large market for Moser to tap.

The company hopes to achieve $1 billion in revenues from this division over the next 4-5 years. A shot in the arm towards this endeavour comes in the form of possible subsidies from the Government as this is deemed as a semiconductor project.