Villages to drive TV boom

Pegging the growth of the Indian television market at about 10 per cent in the next five years, Philips India on Thursday said the biggest growth markets for TVs would be smaller towns and rural areas.

"Television market in India is currently estimated at 7.7 million units and valued at about Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion). It is expected to grow by 8-10 per cent in the next five years," D Shivakumar, executive director and senior vice-president, Consumer Electronics, Philips India said.

He was speaking after the inauguration of the company's exclusive retail outlet, ARENA on Thursday. "Philips will be growing higher than industry growth in television segment in the next five years," he added.

In the sale of television units in the country, rural areas account for 23 per cent. "The biggest growth for television industry is to come from small towns and rural areas in the future," said Shivakumar.

The consumer electronics division accounts for about 40 per cent of Philips' turnover. "The year 2004 was an impressive one for Philips. We reported a 21 per cent top line growth over 2003. The turnover, including five entities, stood at Rs 2100 crore (Rs 21 billion) for the year ended 2004," he said.

Philips is planning to set up 100 ARENAs in 25 cities across the country during this year.

"We started our revamping exercise about 10 months back and we have set up about 30 ARENAs so far and plan to set up 100 such outlets by the end of this year," he said.