Hitachi to unleash ultra-thin monitors in Indian TV market

Aiming to capture a large chunk of the LCD and plasma television segment, global consumer durables major Hitachi is planning for a major influx into the Indian market with ultra thin monitor television series.     

The company is targeting to garner 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the market share in India in the LCD and plasma television, respectively by the end of next year.     

"We presently have 3.5 per cent of the Indian market share in LCD television and 7 per cent share in plasma screen TV," Hitachi Country Head (India) Tarun Jain told PTI.      

"With introduction of our new models, specially the ultra thin 1.5 Series in both categories, we are looking at increasing our market share to 10 per cent in LCD and 20 per cent in plasma television by end of 2009," he added.     

The company, which this month launched its 1.5 Series of LCD televisions in the country, is now planning to bring out the ultra thin plasma version of the same series by end of 2008.     

In addition, Hitachi would also be launching 15 more models of its existing variants of LCD and plasma televisions to emerge as a leader in the $ 75 million LCD and $ 24 million plasma TV market in India.     

He said the company has embarked upon a testing period of three months for its new LCD 1.5 Series to get the customer reaction before fixing any target for volume sale this year.     

"The world is moving towards ultra thin TVs and our R&D is also focused into that category. Besides aesthetic beauty, colour variation, lightness of weight, fit into wall style, it is also eco-friendly with the product being lead free," Jain said.