The prices of LED TVs are expected to increase further from April as the price of open-cell panels in global markets has gone up by 35 per cent in the last one month.
Brands including Panasonic, Haier and Thomson have been considering raising prices since April this year, while some such as LG have already raised prices due to open-sale prices.
Manish Sharma, president and CEO of Panasonic India and South Asia, said, “Panel prices are continuously increasing and so are TV prices. There is a possibility that by April TV prices may rise further. When asked about quantum on growth, he said, “Looking at the current trends, it could be 5-7 percent higher by April.” Making a similar announcement, Eric Braganza, president of Higher Appliance India, said there is no other way than raising prices.
“There has been a tremendous increase in open-sale prices and the trend is that it will continue to rise,” said Braganza, adding that “if this continues, we will have to increase prices steadily”.
Open-cell panel televisions are an important part of manufacturing and comprise about 60 percent of the unit.
Companies import television panels in an open-cell state, which requires further assembling with value addition before being sent to market for sale.
Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL), French electronics brand Thomson and brand licensee of US-based brand Kodak said the market lacked open cell and prices have tripled in the last eight months. .
“For the past eight months, panel prices have increased month-over-month, we have seen more than 350 percent spikes in LED TV panels. Globally, the panel market has slowed down. Despite this, there has been an increase of 35 per cent in the last 30 days, ”said SPPL Chief Executive Officer Avneet Singh Marwah.
He said that the per-unit cost of TV would increase from at least starting 2,000-3,000 starting in April.
Videotex International, owner of the Daitex and Shinko brands, said the industry has never seen or expected an increase in the value of open-sales.
“32 inch is the best-selling size in India, as the size of 32 inch screen is expected to go up to Rs 5,000-6,000,” said Arjun Bajaj, director of Videotex International Group.
While the South Korean brand LG said it would not increase the prices of its TV panels.
“We are not going for any price increase for TV anymore. “We have already raised prices by 7-4% in January and 3% in February,” said Vijay Babu, vice-president (home appliances), LG Electronics India.
Mr. Marwah said that Chinese manufacturers are dominating the open-sale market and alleged that Chinese TV manufacturers are getting better prices from them. “Currently, there is no option but to China where all the panel makers are present. It is closely observed that only Chinese brands are getting better supplies and prices.
“This is especially the narrative after the epidemic, where Chinese TV brands, which have flooded into the Indian market to counter Indian manufacturing brands by better price and supply,” he said.
The government should manufacture TVs under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, a move that would make the Indian TV industry more competitive globally, Marwah said.
Last year, the government reinstated the import duty on open cells. It imposed a 5 percent customs duty on open-sale imports for TVs from October 1, 2020, after having zero duty for a year.
Apart from this, the government had also imported TVs under the restricted category for free to promote domestic manufacturing. Now, the importer of the TV will have to get a license from the DGFT of the Ministry of Commerce for import.
TV is one of the largest segments in the entire field of appliances and consumer electronics, with an estimated sales value of around Rs 25,000 crore, which is around 17 million.
According to a joint report by industry body, CEAMA and Frost & Sullivan, the TV market is expected to grow from 175 lakh units in 2018-19 to 284 lakh units in 2024-25.
It further stated that open cell panel and TV chips are mainly imported from China, apart from some other markets such as Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam and last-mile assembly is done only in India.
.
Add Comment