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Richa Mishra

NEW DELHI, April 17

WITH the colour televisions (CTVs) segment of the consumer electronics industry expecting to close the calendar year with sale of about 8.5 million units, bracing itself up to meet the challenge is the domestic colour picture tube (CPT) industry. The total CPT capacity is 11.2 million against a demand of 8.3 million.

"The present CPT capacity in India is likely to be utilised in the next two years, as demand grows, paving the way for fresh capacity," Mr Satish Kaura, Chairman, Samtel Colour Ltd, said. Currently, all large sizes in CPT are being imported, he told Business Line.

India began producing CPTs in 1988. Three producers namely, Samtel Color, JCT Electronics and Uptron Color set up capacities at that time. Uptron later became sick and was bought over by BPL Display Devices Ltd (BDDL). The capacity of BDDL is 1.2 million and has one production line.

While Samtel has added capacity and has three lines with a total capacity of 5.3 million and manufactures 14", 20", 21" and 21" super flat tubes JCT added capacity of 1.2 million in the western region. The total capacity of JCT was 2.2 million with two production lines. LG of Korea had set up a capacity of 1.5 million per annum for medium sizes, in a 50:50 joint venture with Hotline.

However, they later sold out to Hotline and exited from the Indian tube market due to restructuring in Korea. Hotline also has two lines with a capacity of 2.5 million.

Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) officials said, "All conventional tubes are being sourced from the indigenous manufacturers by most of the multinational as well as domestic brands."

On whether Samtel, with a market share of over 39 per cent and a substantial market share in the 14" segment, was able to fully utilise its capacity, Mr Kaura said, "between the domestic market, exports and the colour display tubes (CDT) — to be launched later this year, all the capacity will be utilised."

Commenting on whether the industry faces threat from imports, industry insiders said, "There is no real threat from imports. Indian prices are well below the landed price of imports. If price and quality are good then customers always prefer to buy local tubes. This also makes the CTVs very competitively priced as it reduces the working capital cost and logistics becomes much easier for the company's."

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