Samsung eyes 60% share in India's premium TV market by year-end

Expects panels of 40 inches and above to drive majority sales; launches Smart QLED TV on Tuesday

South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is aiming to corner around 60 per cent market share of the premium TV segment by the end of this year.

The company, which on Tuesday launched Smart QLED TV in New Delhi to strengthen it's position in the premium segment, is expecting panels of 40 inches and above to drive majority sales.

"We are aiming to take our share in the premium panel market to 60 per cent by the end of this year from the present 48 per cent. This would be helped by our new TV range as QLED series," said Samsung India Vice-President for Computer and Electronics Rajeev Bhutani.

He further added: "The company would also increase its share in the overall pannel market to 35 per cent, from 31 per cent."

Presently, in value terms, the overall size of the indian TV market is around $2.4 billion (Rs 15,430 crore). The market is an intensely competitive one as new entrants have come into the low cost segments as well as in the premium 40 inch plus segment.

According to Bhutani, in panels of 32 inches and below, the industry has not witnessed any growth.

"As far as Samsung is concerned, we would continue to operate in all screen sizes across all points. However, our endeavour would be to drive and showcase the consumer the latest innovative products, which in turn is creating and driving the market in the 40 inch and above segment," he added.

The company has priced the QLED series between Rs 3.14 lakh and Rs 24.99 lakh for screen sizes of 55 inch to 88 inch.

Samsung has come with a pre-book offer for its QLED TV under which it is offering Samsung Galaxy S8 (Gold) free to customers who book up to May 21.