Panasonic sets 70% annual growth target

Competition is hotting up in the domestic consumer durable market which is dominated by Korean players. Panasonic, the Japanese electronics major, is also leaving no stones unturned to wrest the top spot. Daizo Ito, president. Panasonic India, tells Nupur Anand how they plan to achieve this target.

How is the outlook going forward?
Consumer durable companies have witnessed an overall market slowdown. Despite the slackening of demand companies had to go for a price increase due to high input cost, rising interest rates and  a depreciating rupee, which further hurt demand. On white goods, the hike was about 4% and on television sets about 2-3%. After the last quarter of low sales, consumer durable companies are targeting this festive season as an excellent opportunity to increase their pocket share and reach out to consumers. We are expecting 35-40% sales this year during the festive season. For this, we are spending `100 crore on marketing initiatives this festive season, including `25 crore for brand positioning.

You recently entered two new categories--water purifier and air purifier? Which are the other new segments you are looking at?
Low penetration and increasing consumer awareness prompted us to enter both these categories. Going forward, we will continue to focus on youth-centric products such as TVs, technology equipped latest home appliances and beauty products for personal grooming. In fact, we recently launched a slew of products in the grooming segment for the style savvy youth of today. Further, we plan to launch new products in healthcare, security, energy and education segments.

What new products can we expect from Panasonic?
We have several new products lined up. In healthcare we will launch products including ECG machines, blood bank refrigerators and diabetes detectors, whereas in the energy segment we will launch solar cells and rechargeable batteries. In the security category we will focus on CCTV cameras and for education vertical we will launch products such as interactive white board.

What is the turnover target for this year?
For this fiscal, we are aiming at an annual turnover of `10,000 crore. To achieve this, we will continue to focus on developing India-specific products and communicating and reaching out to the consumers in the right way. In fact, we aim at being the largest consumer durable player in six years. To achieve this, we have set a target of growing our business by 70% on a year-on-year basis.

What role does the Indian market play in the global portfolio now?
Around 50% of our total sales of $100 billion come from markets outside Japan and India contributes around 1% to our global sales. We expect to it touch 5% by March 2018. Our aim is to put India on the global map of Panasonic. The company will continue to focus on product differentiation for consumers, developing India-specific products that cater to domestic needs and better communication strategy to achieve this.