Samsung eyes 45% market share of LCD segment

New Delhi, Oct 3 (UNI) With the country's LCD TV market doubling every year, Samsung India today said it is targeting a 45 per cent market share in the segment by this year-end.

''We are looking at a market share of 45 per cent by December-end. We have been a leader in this segment with the current market share of about 42 per cent, and will continue with this position,'' company Deputy Managing Director R Zutshi told reporters here.

Television market is projected to be 13 million units this year, with CRT TV accounting for about 92.9 per cent of this number, followed by LCD TV and PDP TV with 6.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent share, respectively.

The company is also eyeing a 26 per cent market share in the Flat CRT television segment, which is growing at more than 100 per cent year-on-year.

It will launch new models in the UltraSlim segments in 21-inches and 29-inches version in the price range of Rs 8,500-15,500.

Talking about the rising input costs, Mr Zutshi said the government's CRT anti-dumping policy could lead to price hikes.

''The country has only one CRT manufacturer who is unable to meet the demands here. So, the government has to keep that in mind before posing anti-dumping rules,'' he said.

The companies are currently importing CRTs from Malaysia, Thailand, Korea and China, he added.

The anti-dumping duty on CRT picture tubes would act as a major deterent to volume growth of the sector and the impact on price is ranged between Rs 650 to Rs 1,400 depending on the size.

UNI SR SG KN1800