Sony India sets Rs 150-cr mkt budget this festive season

Company is expecting a positive growth this festive season as it would see major sporting events like couple of home cricket series

Sony India has set up a marketing budget of Rs 150-crore for the upcoming festive season and for the entire year it has set a target of Rs 420 crore for the same, the company's Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi said on Monday.

"The festive period of August-November is an important period for us to further enhance our sales," Hibi told PTI in Bengaluru.

Hibi was promoting Sony India's business in Bengaluru and Karnataka.

The company is expecting a positive growth this festive season as it would see major sporting events like New Zealand and England home cricket series against India.

"These cricketing events, especially the home series, boosts sales of television sets in India, unlike when it doesn't motivate customers when there are no sporting events," he said.

To a query, he said this year Sony is aiming 25 per cent growth in customer audio and video segments across India and Karnataka region should be bigger than that.

To another query, Hibi replied, "The total contribution of Karnataka to Sony India is 10 to 15 per cent annually. This is one of the major markets because we have 25 branches."

Also, the growth ratio compared to other states is the biggest for Karnataka, he said.

However, Maharashtra is on par with the neighbouring state with similar growth charts, but Karnataka is clearly leading at the moment, Hibi informed.

The company is doing good business in the premium segment of Bengaluru market because it is able to match the technological demands of the people in the city, which is the information technology hub of India, he said.

"Not only in Bengaluru, but also the company sees continuous growth in other parts of Karnataka like Mysuru, Hubli and Mangaluru markets as well," Hibi said.