Panasonic bets big on mobile phones, battery business to boost revenue

Hyderabad: Japanese electronics major Panasonic is betting big on mobile phones and battery business to reach USD 3.66 billion in revenue from India by 2015-16.

Both the verticals are expected to contribute nearly 25 per cent of the total business of the company from the next financial year, Panasonic India Managing Director Manish Sharma said today.

The company clocked around Rs 7,500 crore (USD 1.3 billion) turnover in the last fiscal and aims to take that figure to USD 1.65 billion (nearly Rs 9,500 crore at Rs 57.5 a dollar) in the current financial year. Of this, smartphones are expected to contribute around Rs 700 crore in FY14.

"Majority of this exponential growth comes from our smartphone business. This year we may not see a big jump, but next year almost 25 per cent of our business will be contributed by smartphone business."

"Second is energy business. We are very serious in expanding our battery business. We are currently supplying to some of the Japanese carmakers. This segment is going to expand dramatically with the rollout of 4G services in the country," Sharma said at a press conference here.

To a query, he said it requires critical mass to set up a mobile phone assembling unit in India and currently they have no plans to establish a facility here.

"The import tariffs are not very high at this point of time in case of mobile phones. Therefore, it is better to get mobile phones and tablets from China or Taiwan."

Panasonic is mulling to launch three new models of mobile phones this month, Sharma said.

He said there is a huge growth potential in India's rural markets and the company may come out with a cellphone range that suits the requirements of this segment.

According to him, as much as 70 per cent of the Indian smartphone market is dominated by 2-3 players and hence Panasonic has potential to tap this fast-growing segment.

In May, the company launched its first quad core-enabled smartphone Panasonic P51 priced at Rs 26,900.

On battery business, Sharma said they will continue to import batteries from overseas and service the Indian market.