Panasonic plans refrigerator, mobile phone units in India.

Panasonic India is planning to set up units for manufacturing refrigerators and mobile phone in India.

The refrigerators unit, which is in the planning stage, would be set up at an investment of about Rs. 200-300 crore and take about one-and-half-year. The products would be sold in the domestic market as well as exported to the West Asia, Africa and other markets, said Manish Sharma, managing director, Panasonic India & South Asia.

The mobile phone manufacturing unit, with a capacity to produce one million units per month, would come up in about six months. However, the ownership structure of the new unit is yet to be decided.

The company is also looking to launch a 4G-enabled handset in the Rs 6,000 segment shortly.

According to Sharma, who is also president of the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), the apex industry chamber for the consumer durables industry in India, the consumer appliance market has been slack. He hoped that it would grow during the coming festive season.

He said the availability of finance options would drive the growth by about 5-10 per cent over the last year.

He said the government should iron out problems to boost exports. On the rupee devaluation, he said the impact would be felt on the electronic appliances segment. If the trend continued, prices of various electronic appliances and gadgets could go up in the 3-4 per cent, said Sharma at the India Gadget Expo 2015, the premier gadget show, being held at Hyderabad.

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