The crackdown on Chinese imports and rising raw material prices are forcing Indian companies to increase the prices of electronic goods and appliances, especially since the demand for TV sets and laptops are high all over the world.
“In televisions there’s a supply constraint even today,” said Nilesh Gupta, director, Vijay Sales. “That’s basically overall because demand has risen worldwide, and prices of panels have gone up. The prices are so high that nobody wants to stock up,” he added.
“For some components, the demand is outstripping supply. This is happening across the board, for things like PCs, integrated circuits, panels and more,” said Navkendar Singh, research director, International Data Corporation.
Singh, however, pointed out that smartphones will likely remain immune to price hikes because the market doesn’t see heavy volume in sales during this period. Panasonic said last month it expects prices of TV sets to rise by 6-7% in January, and they may go up by 10-11% in the first quarter. LG Electronics is also expected to increase prices by 7-8% across its portfolio in India, which includes TV sets, washing machines and refrigerators.
Arnold Su, business head of consumer and gaming PC, SYS business group, Asus India, said demand for laptops is strong. “The initial wave of buying was focused on quickly procuring PCs that were solving the demands rising out of necessity. Later we saw a newfound dependency on PCs, when many families started purchasing individual devices,” said Raj Kumar Rishi, vice president and MD, consumer and small business, Dell Technologies, India.
