Major boost for Make In India as LG installs production unit in country

LG Electronics, the South Korean multinational electronics company, has set up its first manufacturing unit in India, where it would be manufacturing India-specific smartphone models, so that it can benefit from the fast-growing market.

LG has already signed an agreement with GDN Enterprises, which is a part of New Delhi-based Optiemus Group, for manufacturing these models. Trial production has been started with two models, while expansion to include more models is in the pipeline.

Optiemus Group, which already currently manufactures for HTC and Oppo, will be setting up a new plant under a joint venture with Taiwan's leading contract manufacturer Wistron.

While giving a boost to the Make In India campaign of the Indian government, LG too would get a price edge, given that duties and taxes will come down by more than 10%. The move is also aimed to bring LG back to the Indian smartphone market, a major share of which has been lost.

"The business has been a poor performer due to poor product portfolio. We will revamp the portfolio from this month. Our products are superior to competition which we will focus through experiential marketing," LG India managing director Ki Wan Kim said.

For a long time now, LG has been leading the Indian market in refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens; it has also branched into flat panel televisions so that it doesn’t only depend on home appliances segment.

Now it looks forward to rebuilding the smartphone business where it had failed to attract much customers despite several attempts.
"We will pursue to make LG a premium brand in India. The effort is to develop products based on consumer insights. While for existing categories we will focus on energy efficient products, we are also evaluating air and water purifiers as next growth areas," Kim added.

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