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Chinese firm TCL prefers production in India

Partha Ghosh in New Delhi

When the country is going ga-ga over Chinese products and their low price positioning, TCL, the largest consumer electronics maker in China, says manufacturing in India is cheaper. It is discussing contract manufacturing with local companies.

TCL is talking to companies like Voltas and Daewoo India for manufacturing air-conditioners in India.

It is also tying up with several original equipment manufacturers for producing colour televisions.

Only high-end televisions like the plasma display and projection TVs will be imported from China or Hong Kong. Limited numbers of these products are sold in India and, hence, production is not feasible yet.

"We have plans to manufacture these products in India over the next few years. But this will take some time. We have plans to invest close to Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) for full-fledged operations," Adhikarla Gopal Krishna, general manager (India operation), TCL Overseas Marketing Ltd, said. TCL has sought government approval for setting up a wholly owned subsidiary.

"To begin with, our operations will be based on OEM arrangement. We are talking to several companies across the country for contract manufacturing tie-ups. It works out to be cheaper than imports," Stanley Cheung, general manager, TCL Overseas, added.

Sources in Voltas confirmed TCL had initiated preliminary discussions. They declined to give details of the talks. But sources said TCL plans to launch a range of products to cater to a wide spectrum of consumers.

Gopal Krishna said the air-conditioners will be the second product category TCL company will launch after colour televisions which are expected soon.

"We will not be a cheap product. Neither will we harp on the premium tag like Konka. We will bring products which will command a market in the rural markets as well as those which will be in demand in the premium urban markets," he said, talking of price positioning.

This will be TCL's second outing in India, after the first attempt in collaboration with India with the Mulchandani-family promoted Baron International was aborted due to a friction between the partners over management control.

Previous attempts by Konka, another top Chinese CTV maker and Haier, a white goods manufacturer, also failed due to problems with trade partners in India.

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