Durables Cos Confident of Good Growth; Launch new Products

Bangalore: Major consumer durables firms like Samsung, LG and Bajaj Electricals are expecting robust growth of up to 30 percent during this year compared to a slump in demand in 2011 on the back of good performance of air conditioner and refrigerator segments.

"We are looking at a growth of 25-30 percent in the current year," Samsung India Vice President (Home Appliances) Mahesh Krishnan told PTI.

The company that closed 2011 with sales of over Rs 20,000 crore with all round contributions from all the segments, is expecting air conditioner and refrigerator segments to grow by 8-10 percent this year, he added.

Similarly, rival LG Electronics India is also confident of posting a good growth this year after the durables industry witnessing challenges last year due to inflation, dollar appreciation and constant hike in input prices.

"In spite of that, LG has grown 15 percent in its core business of home entertainment and home appliances. We are expecting a growth of around 25% in 2012 over last year," LG Electronics India Vice-President (Marketing) L K Gupta said.

Commenting on the situation, Bajaj Electricals Chairman and MD Shekhar Bajaj said the company saw a growth of about 14 percent in 2011-12 as against a usual 25-30% jump that it has been witnessing for the last 9-10 years.

"This fiscal, the business is expected to be better and we are hopeful of over 20 percent growth. We are targetting a total revenue of 3,800 crore in FY'13," Bajaj added.

The company had clocked a revenue of 3,150 crore in 2011-12 compared to 2,765 crore in the previous fiscal. The appliances business grew 30 percent last fiscal.

However, another home appliances major Whirlpool said the slowdown in demand that has plagued the industry in the last financial year continues and it does not expect the market to grow at a very high rate in 2012-13.

"The last 18 months have been one of the toughest periods for the industry. Against this background, we are looking for a 10-15 percent growth in 2012-13. In the financial year ending March 2011, our turnover was about 3,200 crore and net profit was 166 crore," Whirlpool India Vice President (Corporate Affairs and Strategy) Shantanu Dasgupta said.

In order to meet their growth targets, Samsung, LG and Whirlpool have started launching new products.

Samsung India has introduced 39 split AC models for this year, while a new frost free range with digital inverter compressor has been launched in refrigerator segment.

After missing last year's AC sales target due to delayed summer, LG Electronics India is optimistic to have promising demand for both AC and refrigerators in 2012.