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LG Electronics sees $10-B India sales by 2010
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 19:30 IST
SEOUL: South Korea's LG Electronics Inc said on Wednesday it aimed to boost investment in India and raise sales there almost 10-fold to $10 billion by 2010, helped by brisk sales of home appliances and mobile phones.
LG, the world's top maker of air conditioners, said in a statement it would boost investment in its second-largest overseas market to $150 million by 2007 to expand facilities and build research and development efforts.
It projected $1.3 billion sales from India this year, up from $900 million in 2003.
"Through bold investments and securing top-class technological prowess, LG Electronics is committed to making India its second-largest global production base after China," its chief executive SS Kim said in the statement.
"We will achieve $10 billion in sales in India by 2010 to leap toward the global top-three position."
With the new investment, the world's sixth-largest mobile phone maker is looking to double its R&D staff in India to 1,500 by 2007 to develop premium products. It hopes to export 30 per cent of its made-in-India products to Asia, West Asia and African markets by the same year.
Currently, LG Electronics manufactures TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, electronic ovens and computers in India. It plans to add a handset production line to its second new plant in the country, which is currently under construction, to give annual production capacity of two million mobile phones.
To meet booming demand for its mobile phones, LG Electronics, a unit of South Korea's second-largest conglomerate, planned to expand handset capacity to an annual 10 million units in India by 2010, it said.
