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With the South Korean consumer electronics major LG India launching its first “Made in India” phones- K7 and K10 in the country, the company has embarked on a turnaround strategy for its smartphones business.
Asked on the key growth drivers for the company, Kim Ki-Wan, Managing Director, LG Electronics India, told BusinessLine , “At LG, we haven’t had a good-performing mobile phones business so far. But, we believe that the mobile phones business will be the new growth engine for the company and is one of the key priorities for us.”
He said that the company is hoping that smartphones business will contribute about 10 per cent to its total turnover in the next one year and the company’s decision to start manufacturing its phones locally is a strategic step in this direction.
The company is aiming to manufacture about one million smartphones in the country. While K7 has been priced at ₹9,500, K10 is priced at ₹13,500. Wan said that these phones that come in the sub-15 k band have features typically seen in the premium devices. The company has plans to launch a slew of new products in the segment during the year. He added the company may not manufacture all of its smartphone products in the country, but will look at manufacturing “most of these” products in the country.
Other products LG India is also betting big on the growth of smart TVs and high-end products like OLED TVs. “We also believe there is a huge potential for health-conscious products like water purifiers and air purifiers in the country, and we believe these categories will also be important growth areas for us. When we first introduced water purifiers we were importing them to India. But after we reached certain volumes, we have started manufacturing water purifiers in India,” he added.
The growth for the consumer durable industry has been sluggish for the past few years because of poor consumer sentiment due to various macro-economic conditions, including poor harvest impacting rural demand. Wan said that the company is geared up and optimistic about future growth potential and consumer sentiment with indications of better harvest this year.
“India is among the top five strategic markets for LG globally and we believe India has the strongest potential compared to other emerging BRIC markets currently,” he added.
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