Sansui Plans to Make India a Production Hub – Make in India

KOLKATA: Consumer electronics brand Sansui, which is re-entering the Indian market in partnership with the Jaina Group, maker of Karbonn mobilephones, is planning to make India one of its global production hubs, enthused by the recent cut in corporate tax.

Jaina Group, which has 24-years licence for the Sansui brand for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka markets, is going to invest about Rs 500 crore for a plant near Gurugram to produce smart televisions and appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators and airconditioners. The plant, set up over 30 acres, will be operational by July and create over 3,000 jobs.

“We will pitch for supplying of the products to other Sansui operations globally since we can now compete on pricing with other production hubs in China and Taiwan after the drop in taxation,” said Pradeep Jain, managing director, Jaina Group. Sansui’s head (global licensing) Lim Jew Tim said the potential for global sourcing from India exists for Sansui’s operations in the US, China, Japan, Thailand and South Africa. “At present, Sansui sources products from China and Turkey for its operations in these countries. Once the India plant starts, we will make this a part of the global production network,” he said.

The government last week dropped corporate tax rates from 30% to 22% and imposed just 15% taxation for new investment in manufacturing units, hoping this will bring in a flurry of investment, including foreign direct investment, in smartphones and consumer electronics manufacturing.

The Sansui brand is owned by Sansui Acoustics Research Corp whose parent company is Hong Kong-listed Nimble Holdings. The company has licensed the Sansui brand in various countries such as the US, South Africa, China, Japan and other markets. The brand was in India till about 2017 with the VideoconNSE -3.23 % Group which did not renew the licence last year due to its financial problem.

At its peak, Sansui had a turnover of Rs 1,627 crore in India in 2016.

Source: ET

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