New Delhi, Sept 25 : With a free fall in television prices, Indian customers can now buy a 32-inch television for as low as Rs 7,000. The onset of the festive season coupled with the drop in the prices of TV panels have made televisions cheaper.
A year ago, customers had to shell out atleast Rs 15,000-20,000 to buy a basic 32-inch LED television (TV). The prices have halved since then. Last year, there was a global shortage of LED panels coupled with rupee depreciation and high goods and services tax (GST).
About 65-70 percent of the market is now dominated by the 32-inch and 40-inch televisions. Though the consumer durable firms were in active discussions with the GST Council to reduce the tax rate for this industry, the bigger TVs have still been clubbed with luxury goods.
For instance, Europe’s television brand Thomson TV will offer a basic 32-inch television at Rs 6,999 as part of the Flipkart Big Billion Day sale.
Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics (the exclusive brand licensee for Thomson TVs in India), has said that, as an affordable television company, it invests heavily into research and development verticals to keep the quality optimum for our buyers.
A slew of brands including Thomson, Sansui, Micromax, Blaupunkt, TCL, Shinco and Telefunken have 32 inch models being sold below Rs 10,000.
Why the discount?
During the festive sales period that will extend till the end of Diwali, there would be Rs 2,000-3,000 discount on major television models. This, said TV makers, is to make up for the lost sales in the first two quarters.
Despite the flagship ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, TV sales failed to pick up pace. Manufacturers not just want to sell the piled up inventory but also want to spruce up sales for the basic models.
New entrants have also forced the players to compete on the pricing front. Arjun Bajaj, Director, Videotex (brand licensee of Daiwa TV, Shinco TV and Telefunken TV), said that prices had almost reached the rock-bottom, and it meant good news for buyers.
Take Germany’s Telefunken for instance. It entered India in September and has now launched its 32-inch TV at Rs 7,999.
Will it fall further?
Dealers and manufacturers are of the view that TV prices cannot fall any further. If it does, the quality will be impacted. A Delhi-based consumer durables firm’s CEO said that, for the mid-sized and larger players, it was not viable to cut rates. Hence, they are looking at other areas like discounts and complementary gifts.
However, companies which have reduced their price point to below Rs 10,000 said that the prices would not be falling further. On the contrary, after festive sales, they would in fact rise by a few thousand rupees.
But, if critical TV parts like open cells and LED panels are manufactured locally from 2020 onward, this will help reduce the final price. A further boost would come if the GST rate for TVs above 32 inch is brought down to 18 percent from the current 28 percent.
