TCL, the consumer electronics company, is all set to introduce its new 100-inch LED Smart TV with hi-tech features in the market shortly.
The launch will coincide with the upcoming Onam festival season in Kerala beginning August and the ensuing FIFA World Cup 2022 scheduled to be held in Qatar this year, Vijay Kumar Mikkilineni, Head (Marketing and Appliances Business) TCL.
However, he declined to give any further details on the new product and its pricing. “What I can say is that the product will be competitively priced”, Mikkilineni told BusinessLine. He went on to add that TCL’s 85 inch TV is priced at ₹2 lakh.
Mikkilineni, who was in Kochi, said there is a fast upgradation in the Indian TV segment from 32-inch to 4K. Consumers now prefer to exchange their TVs in less than four-year time frame from the earlier 7 to 8 year period. He attributed the reasons to high disposable income, technology upgradation and awareness for high-end products.
The shifting of movies to OTT platforms, conduct of online classes, zoom meetings due to work from home is also contributing factors for consumers’ inclination towards bigger screens, he added.
Aims double digit growth
TCL, the second largest TV manufacturer globally, has also lined up new models of 4K TVs, QLEDs etc for the upcoming season. “We want to make technologies affordable to every Indian consumer”, he said.
The TV production in India is estimated at 1.40 crore units per year in which the growth of 4K TVs is 20 per cent. Of this, TCL has a market share of 6 per cent. With new products in the line-up, the company is eyeing a double digit growth by next year pan India.
To a question on Covid impact, he said TCL which started its offline sales in 2018 has not been hit much in the pandemic. The company has managed the situation through online sales, which witnessed a 40 per cent rise in 2020-21. Now there is a consumer shift back to brick & mortar model sales online sales dropping to 22 per cent this year.
The ₹2,400-crore manufacturing facility at Tirupati for TV and mobile phone panel production will be operational by June. Trial runs are progressing at the facility which is having a production capacity of 8 million panels in a year.
With the new products, he said TCL is looking at a 30 per cent growth in 2022 compared to last year’s performance which was more or less stable.
Published on
February 18, 2022
