LG Electronics eyes higher sales from premium products in India

LG Electronics said Tuesday it plans to beef up its presence in premium products in India as it looks to increase the share of the segment in overall sales and boost profit margins.

The South Korean electronics giant also emphasised that the recent hike in customs duties by India on LED panels imposed customs duty hike on LED panels in India would not have a significant impact on its profit margins from the country.

Premium products presently account for 30 per cent of LG's global sales, including in India, but it plans to enhance this to 50 per cent with a renewed focus on the segment and a series of fresh launches.

Addressing a delegation of visiting journalists from India, LG Group Senior Vice President Head of Appliance Overseas Sales & Marketing Chris Jung said the revenue growth of LG Electronics in India "will be great".

He noted that the company will have to compete with Chinese firms on their price competitiveness, and therefore it is investing heavily in research and development.

Asked about LG Electronics' threat perception from the presence of Chinese firms in a price sensitive market like India, Jung said, "The Chinese won't catch up so soon. In the future they may get to where we are now but we are not sitting idle, we will also be moving forward".

Jung said the recent hike in customs duty on LED panels in India would not have a significant impact on the company's profit margins from the country.

Besides, he said the company is setting up a manufacturing unit in the US which will start producing locally in a couple of months, in view of President Donald Trump's safeguard measures.

"It is because of the safeguard measures imposed by Mr Trump. In order to find our way around this safeguard measure we have to produce our goods locally just as we do in India. Things are well underway and we will be seeing production in about a month or two," Jung said.

He identified energy saving products and Internet of Things as the major home technology trends in the near future.