South Korean consumer durables player LG Electronics expects to maintain its growth and does not see any impact of the difficult economic condition on the consumer durables industry and also hopes to maintain top line growth. YV Verma, COO, LG Electronics, said LG was looking at a top line of R20,000 crore in this calendar year compared with R16,000 crore it achieved in 2010. This year, the company will see a 22% to 23% growth, he said. The previous year?s growth was around 24%-25%. ?We will cover up this gap and maintain growth,? Verma said. Even if the industry grows at 15%, we will grow 10% over that, Verma added. The share of financed sales is small and most of the purchases are financed by consumers on their own and not through loans, Verma said.

The company plans to spend R750 crore on marketing in 2011 compared with R700 crore last year, Verma said. LG has already spent R800 crore in expanding capacity at the Ranjangaon and Noida facilities. The company has lined up new premium products in TV, refrigerators and monitors. LG has also entered new segments with the launch of its air purifying system and water purifiers, Verma said. ?In India, there is no awareness of these systems though pollution levels are high. There is demand coming in from the hospital segment and those suffering from asthma and needing fresh air, Verma said. In the water purifier segment too, the company has launched products for the high-end market with purifiers in the R35,000 to the R45,000 range.

These premium products are expected to build the LG?s image as a premium brand and bring in customers into their LG Brand Shops, which are franchisees that exclusively showcase and sell LG products. Those visiting the brand shops tend to buy premium products so the LG brand shops are being expanded from 1,600 now to 2,000, Verma said. In the television and monitor segment, the strategy for grabbing market share in the flat panel will be through the 3D route while the refrigerator segment will see the company bringing back the bottom freezer refrigerators, which were launched five years ago and withdrawn but is now making a comeback.

In the flat panel market, for LG, the focus will be on LED TVs which are expected to grow faster. In the 3D TV segment, the company has discontinued the shuttle glass technology and replaced it with the film pattern retarded (FPR) technology. This allows better 3D conversion on TV, viewing without straining the eyes and enables good viewing from any angle. The company said it had a 60% share of the 3D market and it was a fast growing segment. The company is seeing a demand now for 3D monitors and has just launched it in the market. This is a R900-crore business for the company.

The company was also growing in the CRT tv market which was supposed to be slowing down. According to Verma, LG is growing at 9% in this segment and there are markets such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand where demand for larger TV sets continue.