Amid rupee plunge, consumer durables makers mull pre-festive price hike

Consumer durables makers may go for a price hike before the festive season sales to partially pass on the higher import bills due to fall in rupee.

Sony, Panasonic and Godrej said they are closely watching the currency movement as the rupee on Thursday crossed a historic low of 70.32 against the US dollar.

"The rupee crossing 70 per dollar is putting a lot of pressure on us in terms of input costs. We are evaluating the impact on us, and if it remains like this, we would have to go for a price hike in the near future," Godrej Appliances Business Head and Executive VP Kamal Nandi told PTI.

He further said there could be a pre-festive price rise if rupee is 70 plus and a call on this would be taken by August-end.

Echoing similar views, President and CEO Panasonic India and South Asia Manish Sharma said the sinking rupee is putting pressure on the overall input costs leading to a constant rise in commodity prices.

"If this trend soon hits a tipping point, it will have an impact on price within the white goods industry, especially now when we have begun our descent into the festive season," said Sharma.

Last month, several companies had announced to hike the prices of TV panels of 32-inch and above to offset the adverse impact of the falling rupee.

Like others, Sony is also closely watching the situation and will take any decision at an appropriate time.

"We are closely watching the situation at the moment and are yet to take a decision on price correction for our televisions," said Sony India Head of Sales Satish Padmanabhan.

Haier too laid out similar plans.

"We may have to look at a price increase across a few categories. But, considering the current critical weather conditions in Kerala and other key parts of the country, we will wait for the situation to get better before making any announcements," said Haier India president Eric Braganza.