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IT to drive LG's growth in 2001

LG Electronics is looking at IT products to contribute 20 per cent to the company’s turnover in 2001


agencyfaqs!

NEW DELHI

Consumer electronics major LG Electronics India Ltd (LGEIL) is looking at IT products to drive growth in the year 2001. Last year, the IT business had contributed about 10 per cent to the total turnover of the company. This year the company hopes to double that to Rs 500 crore. This growth would be led by products such as notebook PCs, mobile phones, LCD TV monitors, finger print monitoRs LGEIL also plans to assemble PC monitors in India.

Speaking at a press conference in Delhi recently, K.R Kim, managing director, LGEIL, said, "LG is extremely bullish about the growth prospects of its IT line of products in the country. We have emerged as the industry leader in the high-end Flatron range of monitors in a short span. Given the high-speed growth rate, I foresee the IT line of products contributing Rs 500 crore to our total turnover this year."

Topmost on his agenda is to consolidate LGEIL's leadership in Flatron monitoRs LG expects to attain a share of 55 per cent in this market in 2001. The company has projected a 31 per cent increase in market share for the year 2001 from 24 per cent in 2000.

In May 2001, LG's assembly unit of PC monitors at its Greater Noida facility will be fully operational. This would help the company push sales from 3 lakh units in the year 2000 to 5 lakh units in 2001, say company sources. The company plans to add four more models to its current range of 10 PC monitoRs The new models will include LG's Finger Print Recognition monitor and the Internet model - which are slated to hit the market in October this year.

The company has seen dramatic growth across all product categories despite the overall industry slump. While the consumer electronics and home appliances industry has grown by 8-10 per cent in the year 2000, LGEIL has grown by a phenomenal 80 per cent, taking its turnover to Rs1,903 crore from Rs 1,056 crore last year.

The company has also indicated that it plans to divest 25 per cent stake in its Indian operations to the public this year. Targeting a turnover of Rs 2,500 crore in 2001, the company aims to be the one-stop solution brand in the consumer electronic, home appliances, IT, telecom and dotcom arena. Elaborating on its plans, Ajay Kapila, vice- president, sales & marketing, said, "This will be achieved by portfolio expansion and the introduction of latest technologies and rich features - all supported by an aggressive promotion campaign for the current year. We shall add another cutting edge product to our portfolio - the Optical Storage Device - which we plan to launch sometime this month."

Taking into account that LG stepped into the Indian market just three years back, the company has grown phenomenally. One of the key factors behind LG's success has been the ability to correctly anticipate the future. The future networked home is what the company is looking at currently. In an earlier interview to agencyfaqs!, Kim had said, "We are not trying to be the number one in quantity. We always look for quality and we want to be number one in specific segments."

Major launches from the company stable during the current financial year include the combo model DVD ROM and CDR/W to be introduced in March 2000 and the world's first DVD RAM in august this year.

© 2001 agencyfaqs!

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