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Panasonic India is sharpening focus on value-added appliances at a time when consumers are increasingly buying premium and feature-rich products. The company, which has announced the launch of matter-enabled air-conditioners in India, ended FY23 with over ₹10,000 crore in terms of total revenues up 15 per cent compared to FY22.
Talking about the recently concluded festival season, Manish Sharma, Chairman, Panasonic Life Solutions India and South Asia told businessline, “Consumer sentiment continued to be upbeat during the festival season. Premium appliances and value-added products were the key drivers for growth. For instance, in the case of LEDs for the festival period, there has been a volume growth of around 5 per cent compared to last year. At the same time, 55 inches and above 4K LEDs registered a volume growth of 13 per cent during this period. Similarly, the air-conditioners category registered 15-20 per cent volume growth during the festival period compared to last year.”
Growth highlights
He added that even in smaller towns and cities demand for value-added products has seen a significant increase.
Responding to a query on the company’s performance in FY23 in India, Sharma said, “ Total revenues in FY23 exceeded ₹10,000 crore with a profit of around ₹860 crore. There was a 15 per cent increase in revenue and profits increased by 23 per cent compared to last fiscal.” The first half of the year, the company has seen growth of over 10 per cent.
“As a strategy, we are focusing more on value-added products and we don’t want to focus on commoditised segments. Over the past 3-4 years, our focus has significantly shifted to introducing large-capacity washing machines, feature-rich refrigerators and air-conditioners. In line with our strategy to democratise technology, we are launching air-conditioners equipped with matter technology,” Sharma said.
Smart cooling
Matter is an open-source connectivity standard that enables seamless interoperability across smart devices. With consumers using products of different brands managed by different apps or platforms, the company said it has integrated a universal standard, matter, with its smart-home solution platform Miraie and will introduce matter-enable room air conditions ahead of summer season.
Unseasonal rains adversely impacted sales of air conditioners during the summer season of 2023. Asked about expectations for the upcoming summer season, Sharma said, “ We are very bullish about the upcoming summer season. This is one of the reasons we have announced the launch of matter-enabled air-conditioners ahead of the summer season. We are targeting a growth of over 20 per cent in the upcoming season. This growth will be driven by low-penetration of air conditioners and growing adoption of energy-efficient and smart air-conditioners.”
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