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| Panasonic Home to invest Rs 14 crore |
| BS Reporter / Chennai Sep 07, 2011, 00:01 IST |
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Panasonic Home Appliances India Company Ltd, a manufacturer of automatic cookers and super grinder mixers, is planning to expand its product line including plans to start manufacturing of food processors in India.
The company is currently in the process of doubling its manufacturing capacity at its Chennai facility for mixers and cookers with an investment of around $3 million (around Rs 14 crore).
"We are conducting a feasibility study to enter into manufacturing and marketing of food processors. Plans are in the initial stage," said Hidenori Aso, managing director, Panasonic Home Appliances.
The food processor, which would be placed in the premium segment of the product category, would be designed for Indian customers, for example, with an addition of an atta kneader which has only use among Indians.
It is also planning to launch a sandwich maker, pop-up toaster and coffee maker by October 2011, said G Gurumohan, chief marketing officer, Panasonic Home Appliances India.
The company, which has been into manufacturing and marketing of premium segment mixers and automatic cookers for several years, has launched three products - oven toasters, hand blenders and ball blenders three months ago.
"With this, we will have six more products other than mixer and automatic cooker in the Indian market. The new products will be imported from our Chinese facility," he said.
The company is planning to double capacity of its manufacturing facility in Chennai in next three years, to increase production to 2 million automatic cookers and 600,000 super grinder mixers. Its present manufacturing capacity is one million units of cookers and 300,000 units of mixers a year. It would invest around Rs 14 crore for the expansion.
It currently caters to 75 per cent of the market share in the segment with 850,000 rice cookers. The facility also manufactures super grinder mixers, and has a market share of 80 per cent in the premium mixer segment in India. The premium mixer segment, which has a higher price range, is around 15 per cent of the total mixer market in India, he added.
It is also planning to double its exports by next fiscal, said Aso. Currently, it has exports of 150,000 cookers and 80,000 mixers to countries including South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Panama, Maldives, Singapore, Nepal, Bhutan, Middle East nations, Peru and Nigeria. It would also commence exports to Thailand and Malaysia soon, the company executives said.
Special offers
The company, today announced special offers for the Tamil Nadu market. It has also launched a cooker for customers in Tamil Nadu, which caters to the specific needs of the regional customers at a cost lower than its similar products in the market.
Panasonic Home Appliances has posted a turnover of $40 million (around Rs 184 crore) in the last fiscal and is expecting a revenue of $65 million (around Rs 300 crore) in the current fiscal, said Aso.
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