LG Electronics India will roll out a new set of home appliances under its ‘Essential’ series by next month, chief sales officer Sanjay Chitkara told FE during an interaction, as the company seeks to tap a wider set of consumers.
The range, while aiming for mass-market consumers, is offering premium features such as fully-automatic washing machines, double-door refrigerators and energy-efficient air conditioners (ACs) at an affordable price.
Typically, mass-market consumers turn to semi-automatic washing machines, single-door refrigerators and window ACs for their home appliance needs, since they are considered budget-friendly, sector experts said. Entry-level and lower-end buyers have returned to the durables market this festive season due to income tax relief and GST cuts announced in categories such as TVs, ACs and dishwashers.
Chitkara said that it was important to upend the market at the lower end to improve adoption of consumer durable products. The new range will also be timed with the wedding season that begins next month. LG hopes to tap young couples and families with the new range, he said.
“We are currently placing the stocks in the market. We were clear that if we want to improve adoption of home appliances, we would have to help consumers upgrade to better products. While urban consumers have been premiumising, consumers in smaller towns have hesitated to do this because of the lack of options. We hope to address this need,” he said.
Chitkara did not specify the price of the new range citing competitive reasons, but said that the company had conducted a detailed study prior to the proposed launch to understand the requirement of consumers lower down the price pyramid. The range has been developed in India and may be expanded in the future based on the response it receives, he added.
The move to launch a range developed in the country also comes amid an India-centric manufacturing focus by the company. In a presentation last week, LG’s global CEO William Cho said that the company planned to step up manufacturing, exports and launch more locally-tailored products as it placed India at the centre of its Global South strategy.
“We look forward to advancing our growth here by Making for India, Making in India and Making India Global,” he said. This would include launching more factories here, embedding itself even more into the local value chain, using India as an export hub to markets beyond Africa, Asia and the Middle East (West Asia) and expanding its India-focused portfolio.
The company is also expanding its operations into new areas such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions, smart-office IDs and built-in kitchen packages, besides stepping up its focus on information display systems and commercial ACs, as part of its push to expand its B2B portfolio.
LG India closed FY25 with a topline of Rs 24,367 crore and a bottomline of Rs 2,203 crore, a growth of 14.12% and 12.76%, respectively, versus last year.
LG is also setting up its third factory at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs 5,001 crore, which will begin commercial production by November 2026. The company’s existing manufacturing facilities include factories in Noida and Pune.
