LG, Samsung to slug it out in battle for handset supremacy

Our Corporate Bureau
09 December 2005

Mumbai: With Samsung Electronics Co announcing plans to invest $15 million in setting up a mobile handset unit in Haryana, with an initial capacity of 1-million units a year, the war between the two Korean Cheabols in handset manufacturing is set to intensify,

Samsung's facility that has the capacity to manufacture 1 million handsets at present will be expanded to make 20 million handsets by 2010, according to a Samsung spokesperson.

Eight years after LG and Samsung moved into the Indian market, LG has gained a 25.6 per cent share of India''s colour TV market, 33 per cent share of washing machines and nearly 29 per cent of refrigerators, according to industry data.

Samsung however, is ranked second in all three segments. Together the two companies have more than 40 per cent of these segments.

Samsung considers India as one of its top six strategic markets, and now its South West Asia regional headquarters. IT hopes to close FY 2005 with $1.4-billion revenue from India, including sales of telecom and IT equipment, which is nearly 2 per cent of its global revenue. It aims to raise sales in India to $5.5 billion by 2010.

LG, which sells top-end plasma colour TVs, Whisen air-conditioners, Dios refrigerators, computers and mobile phones, expects sales from its Indian operations to hit $1.9 billion in 2005, and reach $6.7 billion in 2010, up about 29 per cent each year.