Philips has been aggressive towards its lighting business and seeks a huge chunk of its shares from Indian market. According to the reports, India is the seventh largest market for Philips in lighting product sales. For Diwali this year, the company came up with an innovative new LED diya, which was displayed at the light expo this year. The company forecasts that LED will capture 50 per cent of the global lighting market by 2015.
Eric Rondolat, CEO, Royal Philips Electronics was present in India this Diwali and was pretty impressed by the LED diya. He said, “It can share the best place in the living room. Philips will invest heavily into development of such local technologies and products in India, which will be taken to other global markets. India is one market where Philips will grow its investment since we are extremely confident about the growth potential,” reports ET.
Rondolat sees a huge demand and potential for lighting here in India as he calculates that an average customer in India is aged at 26 years. Rondolat said that about 32 per cent do not have access to electricity in India and despite that, there is a massive scope for latest technologies and people are open for energy-efficient products like LEDs.
On surveying a few Indian homes, Rondolat saw people using fluorescent lamps, which is very uncommon in other countries these days. And he targets such homes with Philips’ luminaire which creates various types of lighting.
According to the reports, “The lighting business contributes more than half to Philips India’s overall revenue of 5,579 crore for 15 months ended March 2012, while globally the share of lighting business is just over one-third,” said ET.
Philips lighting products are sold through more than one million retail points in India and it is considered as a local brand by many. The company is now looking forward to bring down LED lights at an entry level price.
Binni Rawat, EFYTIMES News Network