Panasonic to double sales in India to Rs 4500 cr

The Indian arm of Japanese consumer durables firm Panasonic is aiming to increase its contribution to the parents' global business ten-fold within five years as it expects to double its sales to Rs 4,500 crore this fiscal.

The company, which is currently focusing on local production and opening a research centre, sees India becoming its third-largest market in the world in the next five years.

"India contributes a mere one per cent to our global business at present. But being the fastest growing market, it has a lot of potential. We are targeting to reach a contribution of 10 per cent in the next five years," Panasonic India Chief Executive Officer Daizo Ito told PTI.

He said the company has been witnessing phenomenal growth in India for a couple of years and expects sales to touch Rs 4,500 crore by this fiscal from Rs 2,200 crore last year.

"We are heavily investing in India. In the long term, we would like to start local production of almost all our products and start R&D centres here," he said.

Besides lowering the cost of importing products, Ito explained that the company is focused on bringing out more products "dedicated to Indians".

The company, which has announced an investment of $300 million for the three next years, said it has started scouting for sites across the country to set up its sixth manufacturing plant, which will manufacture air conditioners and washing machines.