Seeking to give a big push to its sales in India and cover new audience, Sony India, on Tuesday, said it had decided to increase its budget on marketing by around 25 per cent and would pump in Rs.450 crore this fiscal for this purpose.
Stating that it was not only looking at increasing sales, Sony India said it would also increase the headcount in India. It planned to recruit nearly 500 people during the current fiscal. The company said it was targeting a 30 per cent jump in turnover this fiscal from Rs. 6,313 crore posted in fiscal 2011-12. During 2011-12, Sony India had spent Rs.360 crore on marketing.
Talking to journalists here, Sony India Managing Director Masaru Tamagawa said the company was profitable but not much.
“We might look into increasing prices of our products in the second-half of the current fiscal, depending upon the exchange rate at that time. Till end of June, we have fixed rate because we have hedging system. From July onwards, we will have to look into it based on the exchange rate at that time,” he said.
Headcount
He also said that in a bid to cater to business growth, the company was looking to increase its headcount in the country by 500 to 3,800 in the current financial year. This is in contrast to the reported job cuts of around 10,000 globally by the parent, Sony Corporation. Sony India is also planning to increase the number of its distribution network from 10,400 in 2011-12 to 12,200 in the current fiscal.
