NEW DELHI, Dec 17: With buyers loosening their purse strings amid rising income levels, the consumer durables industry appears to have cashed on the opportunity in 2014 despite tough overall economic conditions and expects even better times ahead in the new year.
The industry, which had suffered due to a slump in the economy and remained flat in the past two years, started looking up this year and even high-end products like ultra high definition TV, refrigerators and air-conditioners with newer technologies found traction in the market.
Helped by the government’s encouragement to produce panels domestically through excise benefits and imposition of levy on import, TV makers such as Panasonic, LG, Samsung moved ahead on their plans to enhance production capacity in India.
Looking back, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) President-designate, and Managing Director of Panasonic India and South Asia, Manish Sharma told PTI: “It has been a stimulating year for the industry.”
The new government has brought along a lot of positive changes in terms of introduction of favourable reforms and positive consumer sentiment, he added.
According to CEAMA, several initiatives by the successive governments, including reducing excise duty to 10 per cent from 12 per cent and extend it till December this year, helped in uplifting consumer sentiments and encouraged domestic manufacturing.
“The total size of the industry in FY 2013-14 was Rs 45,000 crore and it would be around Rs 55,000 crore in FY 2014-15 with a growth between 15 to 20 per cent. The growth would come from TV panels and small appliances,” CEAMA Secretary General Amit Chadha said.
Bullish about carrying on with the momentum in the next year, he said: “We expect 2015 also to be a good year.”
In 2014, the surge in sales came mostly during the festive season, registering around 35 per cent growth, reflecting how the market responded to several steps by Modi-led government to revive the economy and how consumer sentiments improved.
Videocon Industries Director Anirudh Dhoot said: “Post a long dull period, the festive season emerged as a slight relief period for the consumer durables industry.”
Giving credit to the new government in helping turn things around, Dhoot, who is also the President of CEAMA, said the reforms announced earlier this year have helped revive growth in the sector to some extent.
“However, the market is yet to reach its full potential as the momentum in terms of sales has just started picking up,” he added. (PTI)
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