Sony India exploring new product categories

Consumer electronics major Sony India is exploring new product categories for steady growth in future amid economic slowdown in the country, a company official said on Thursday.

The company broadly operates in three product categories television, audio and digital imaging (camera) in the country.

"We have many things in the pipeline," Sony India Managing Director Sunil Nayyar said here.

Asked whether the company is looking at new categories he said, "Yes".

Nayyar, however, declined to give details of the company's plan or specify any time frame for venturing into new categories.

According to reports, Sony in a start-up acceleration programme was supporting the development of a device, Reon Pocket, which would operate as a mobile air-conditioner.

The company, however, said its digital imaging (camera) business registered high growth.

Sony India sales head Satish Padmanabhan said the company is betting big on the festive season in terms of revival of demand.

"We have set a 40 per cent growth target for television business. Sony plans to achieve Rs 350 crore sales in West Bengal during the festive season, against a target of Rs 300 crore in the previous year's festive period," he said.

Nationally, Sony India was aiming at 10-15 per cent growth in sales.

However, the sentiment of the market during the Pongal festival in south India did not meet the company's expectation in sales, the official said.

Speaking about TV panel business, Nayyar said the company had to respond to the current market condition by reducing price for 32 inch Bravia TV by nearly 10 per cent in April.

The consumer electronics maker, however, said an "attractive" interest-free financing scheme helped it to achieve growth of 20 per cent.

The category of 32 inch TVs had seen sharp reduction in prices mostly in the online space while the market remained flat in the traditional distribution channel, it said.

Nayyar said its TV panel sales were "good" for sizes higher than 32 inches and demand for '4K' panels were "robust".

He said digital imaging as a segment was the fastest growing category within the company. Currently, it is contributing about 15 per cent to its annual revenue and is expected to increase to 20 per cent in next 1-2 years.

Sony India's television business was contributing about 80 per cent of its revenue in the recent past but the share has declined to 60-65 per cent now, Nayyar said adding that the share of digital imaging and audio increased in the total sales.

The company officials did not give details of its sales for 2018-19. According to reports, Sony India posted sales of around Rs 7,000 crore in 2017-18, which was lower than Rs 7,181 crore in the previous year.