Sony India aims to take the share of India's contribution to its total revenues to ten per cent in the next five years. The Indian market currently accounts for about five per cent of the company's global revenues.

According to Mr Tadato Kimura, General Manager, Marketing, Sony India plans to increase its penetration and business in rural areas.

“At the moment, India accounts for five per cent of Sony's revenue globally. Of course, we are aiming to grow much more in India. India's contribution (to the company's total business) should be much higher,” he said at a press meet here last week.

Stating that major sales contribution of the company still comes from the metros, Mr Kimura said: “We continue to be very aggressive in Indian markets. We focus on value-added products in metros mainly, while we are expanding the coverage as well as penetration (in rural areas) using our entry level models, which are affordable.”

Digital still cameras, television sets and laptops are key categories of growth for the company. Sony, however, ruled out the possibility of setting up any manufacturing facility in India. “So far, we do not have any plan to set up any plant in India. It is cheaper or economically justifiable to import rather than setting up a plant. There is also no plan to procure parts from the country as of today,” he said.

However, if import duties continue to go up and the rupee continues to depreciate, then some contingency measures might have to be considered, he added.

West Bengal

Sony expects the sale of Cyber-shot cameras in West Bengal to grow by 33 per cent this year. The company, which sold 90,000 Cyber-shot cameras in 2011-12, expects to sell close to 1, 20,000 units in 2012-13.

The company also aims to increase its market share to 45 per cent (40 per cent) in the state. West Bengal accounts for ten per cent of the company's total sales of Sony Cyber-shot cameras in India, Mr Kimura said.

> shobha@thehindu.co.in

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