"We plan to focus on non-metros"

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Sitting at the helm of the $2.5-billion global conglomerate, Venugopal Dhoot, chairman and managing director of the Videocon group, is chalking out an aggressive growth plan for his company. His goal is to build Videocon into a $10-billion company by the year 2010. “And we’ll do whatever it takes to reach the goal,” he asserts. Videocon’s growth strategy includes a foray into retail, apart from overseas acquisitions in the consumer durables space and forging strategic partnerships in the oil and gas sector. Currently, the group operates in four key sectors, namely, consumer durables, oil and gas, Thompson CPT (colour picture tubes) and CRT (cathode ray tube) Glass. An Engineering degree holder from Pune Engineering College, Dhoot entered the family business almost three decades ago. It was in the early eighties that he launched Videocon colour televisions in India through a technical tie-up with Toshiba Corporation of Japan. Today, Videocon is a household name in India offering a range of products. In a free-wheeling interview to FE’s Lalitha Srinivasan , Dhoot shares his gameplan.

You have just launched a high-voltage television campaign featuring cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (SRK). Isn’t that a wastage of precious resources? What’s been the response like?

We rolled out the campaign just two weeks ago. I hear the response has been very encouraging—especially from kids. In fact, we did it under a very professional management. Scripted by Ogilvy & Mather, the entire idea of the TVC (television commercial) was conceptualised by Shah Rukh Khan. The idea underpinning this campaign is, always play it big, no matter what role life puts you in. The point we wanted to convey was simple: both SRK and MSD are No 1 in their fields. And so is Videocon. I think it’s the first time in Indian advertising that two national celebrities at the peak of their popularity ratings have come together in one frame. The demand from TV channels for the footage on the making of this TVC has been astounding. The channels have used their ingenuity in making a story of it.

How do you plan to strengthen your flagship brand Videocon in the highly competitive television market? How will you consolidate your position in the consumer durables sector as a whole?