Consumer goods sales may grow: FICCI

Prices of consumer durables across sectors fell consistently over 2002-03, even as volumes more than doubled, Federation of Indian Chambers ...

Prices of consumer durables across sectors fell consistently over 2002-03, even as volumes more than doubled, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) survey released today says. The strong growth is likely to continue in all segments—white goods, consumer electronics and electronic components — surveyed, it adds.

“Constantly falling prices over the years due to competition among major players, aggressive marketing strategies and declining import tariffs’’ contributed to a surge in demand that took air conditioners, microwave ovens, colour TVs and DVD players to an increasing number of households over the last year. While refrigerators and clocks recorded single digit growths, other white goods grew in double digits, with microwaves alone shipping 27 per cent more than the previous year.

In value terms too, the consumer electronics industry for instance, has done phenomenally well in several segments. The 7.2 million units of VCDs and DVDs shipped in 2002-03, for instance, fetched a Rs 1,633 crore share of the overall Rs 14,500 crore consumer electronic business in 2003.

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Digital viewer sales are expected to grow 30 per cent over April-September 2004, compared to 20 per cent in the same period the previous year.

The strong growth, however, is at the cost of the unorganised sector, which has lost nearly 80 per cent of its previously held market share, coming down from 40 to 50 per cent in 2001-02 to 8-10 per cent in 2002-03. “This is because of the growth in production in the organised segment and domestic availability of branded products due to lowering of import duties and other liberal measures,’’ says FICCI.

Further, the MNCs have a clear lead over Indian manufacturers in terms of technology and steady flow of capital, FICCI confirms. Rural India, which contributes nearly 70 per cent of total households, is growing annually at 25 per cent, while the urban household market is growing at 6-7 per cent annually, the survey says.

The Air Conditioning market, which was dominated by Indian players like Voltas and Carrier, are being overtaken by MNCs LG and Samsung. Similarly, the four dominant brands in the refrigerator market are Whirlpool and Godrej, followed by Electrolux-Kelvinator and LG. Videocon, Samsung, BPL, Voltas and Akai are also significant players, the survey claims.

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In the microwave market too, LG, Samsung, Kenstar and Whirlpool account for 94 per cent market share while Videocon, IFB National, and Inalsa are the struggling for more space.