Videocon's CTV sales down 8.6 %

The Videocon group has suffered 8.6 per cent drop in colour television sales in value terms in January-May this year, even though the volume grew by 6 per cent,these figures were given by market research agency A C Nielsen.

The group has clinched two high-decibel acquisitions in recent weeks.

The news on refrigerators front is not good either. The sale of Videocon refrigerators declined 20.2 per cent in volume and 21 per cent in value.

In washing machines, where the company is the third largest player with a 13.2 share of the market, it witnessed a decline of 3.4 per cent in volume and 3.7 in value.

However Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot questioned the figures, saying: "The bulk of our sales comes from rural India and the AC Neilsen survey does not cover the region. It covers the metros and other big cities. Hence I do not agree with the figures."

Electrolux, which managed to sell a 130,100 refrigerators, suffered a decline of 35 per cent in volume and 32 per cent in value terms.

Thomson too fared poorly in the colour television category, accounting for 9,300 sets in the total market of 28,45,400 during the period under review, giving it a 0.3 per cent share of the market.

Thomson saw an 86.7 per cent decline in volume and a 88.4 per cent dip in value terms for the first five months of this year.

Sony however appears to have staged a turnaround in colour televisions for the month ending May. The Japanese giant improved its volume by 63 per cent.