Germany’s Blaupunkt Enters Indian TV Market with $300 Million Investment

German consumer electronics maker Blaupunkt will invest $300 million in India over the next 3-5 years to promote and manufacture its range of televisions.

The company, mostly known for its audio and sound technologies, launched its range of LED televisions in the country on Sept. 11. Blaupunkt has partnered with local company Trigur Electronics to manufacture its televisions, which will be sold on the e-commerce platform, Flipkart.

Blaupunkt said its televisions will be made at Trigur’s factory in Sonepat, Haryana, and will be sold in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The company is looking at Rs 500 crore business over the next one year, Managing Director Andrzej Cebart told PTI. “We have plans to invest $300 million in next 3 to 5 years. This would be together with our local partner (Trigur Electronics),” he told the news  agency.

Blaupunkt has a long-term contact with Trigur Electronics, Cebart added. “We have a long-time agreement. We have a minimum 10-year vision and beyond,” he said. Before launching its television models in India, Blaupunkt had launched several audio products last year. It first announced about entering the Indian television market at Berlin IFA 2018 last month.

With this launch, India becomes one of those few countries where Blaupunkt sells its televisions. The firm is present in Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Israel, the report added.

Blaupunkt has no plans of selling TVs through offline distributors and for now will be a Flipkart-specific brand, Kiran Bedi, owner of Trigur Electronics and MD and CEO of Blaupunkt Televison, told PTI. The plant has the capacity to roll out one lakh TV units per month, he added.

India’s television market is one of the fastest growing in the world, with close to 25 top television brands sold both online and offline. Almost all of them are either made or assembled in India by local manufacturers. Besides local firms, foreign brands such as Kodak, Xiaomi, Samsung, LG, and Thomson compete in the Indian market today. The market in the country currently consists of 12 to 14 million units, according to the report.

The market, expected to grow at 14.7 percent annually over FYs 2016-21, is estimated to record 12.97 percent rise and reach a revenue of Rs 11.78 billion by the end of 2018, the report added.