Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony has started manufacturing of LED televisions in India, and the first batch of locally-made products will go on sale in this month. The televisions will be contract manufactured at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
“India has been an important strategic market for Sony, and this development underlines our continued commitment to this market as well as our alignment with the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. The televisions will be manufactured at Competition Team Technology India’s (CTTI) facility in Chennai,” Sony India MD Kenichiro Hibi told The Hindu .
CTTI is a subsidiary of Foxconn Group. India is the only country where the consumer electronic giant has taken the contract route for manufacturing of its ‘Bravia’ televisions series. It has set up its own facilities for this purpose in Malaysia, China, Japan and Brazil.
Asked about plans to set up Sony-owned manufacturing unit in India, Mr. Hibi said, “Manufacturing here decreases our time to market. We are evaluating all possibilities. We have reviewed all aspects of manufacturing operations and for now, we found this (partnership with CTTI) to be the best option.”
While the move will not immediately impact the pricing of the products, Mr. Hibi said it would help the company reach customers effectively and produce more India-specific models. Initially, the company will manufacture 43-inches televisions at the unit, and will gradually add more products.
“We see huge potential in the TV business as conversion from CRT TVs to LCDs/LEDs by Indian customers is expected to accelerate…it is likely that a big chunk of TVs sold in India may originate from this unit in the future,” he said.
The company, however, did not share details on the manufacturing capacity.
Presently, the televisions business contributes about 35-40 per cent to Sony India’s overall revenue that stood at Rs.10,600 crore in 2014-15.
