Panasonic plans to ramp up India production

Panasonic, a manufacturer of electronic and electrical products for consumer, business and industrial use, plans to ramp up its India sales with more entry-level domestic appliances and consumer durables in 2009.

With hopes to double the India revenues from the current Rs 2,200 crore turnover, Daizo Ito, CEO, Panasonic India, said the company will ramp up production across its five manufacturing units in India. “While we may have lowered our hiring globally, we will hire around 100 sales staff in India and next year we will even set up a new manufacturing facility in India for household appliances,” he said. The company plans to fabricate appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and high-end appliances in the proposed manufacturing facility.

Early this month, Panasonic — the world’s largest maker of plasma televisions, had announced the closure of 27 manufacturing sites, 13 of them in Japan, and a loss of about 5 per cent of Panasonic’s global workforce of 300,000 people.

Arjun Balakrishan, head operations, Panasonic India, said that the company was also planning to set up a research and development centre in India. “We are looking at setting up a global R&D centre in India that would develop India-specific products.” The company is bullish on India to grow business verticals like air-conditioning, home appliances and plasma displays. “We expect mass market product lines like our LCD TVs, kitchen appliances, digital cameras and air-conditioners to be the big growth drivers in India,” said Balakrishan.

Kallol Choudhury, head (AC Business), Panasonic India, said, “Panasonic is taking an aggressive distribution strategy to increase the number of channel partners from 130 to about 500 next year. We have embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign and have customised this product range for the Indian market, which we believe will help us achieve our targeted market share of 10 per cent in the split AC segment this year.”

The company that has around 48 franchisees-operated exclusive brand stores has set a target of 100 stores by year end and a retail presence across 6,000 outlets, from the present 3,000 outlets. It also said that to counter the economic slowdown, the company is looking to move into newer business such as systems product solutions, which include office automation and surveillance devices. “New businesses like office automation, surveillance and security tools, along with our OEM business with manufacturers like Toyota for car audio segment, are growing despite a slowdown in auto sales,” said Ito.