Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Consumer durables should reach rural areas: official

Special Correspondent

"Delivery mechanisms should extend beyond urban areas"

CHENNAI: Consumer electronics firms should come up with innovative methods to increase penetration in the rural market, Information Technology Secretary C. Chandramouli said on Tuesday.

"We have focussed largely on the urban market. Our service delivery mechanisms have largely been focussed towards these urban areas where connectivity ... is good," he said and added that cable television had opened up this new avenue. Most villages in States such as Tamil Nadu were served by cable TV. The market was huge and was waiting to be tapped.

Drawing a parallel with the IT industry, he said that the mobile phone market "zoomed" when the prices came down. "Studies have shown that the sale of personal computers, which are about four million, could reach 28 million [per annum] if the Rs. 10,000 mark was breached. Now hardware manufacturers have come up and they are aggressively selling personal computers below Rs. 10,000," he said. Lessons needed to drawn from this to provide affordable consumer electronics in rural areas.

Dr. Chandramouli was speaking after inaugurating a seminar on `Industry-Trade Relations,' organised by the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) here. CETMA is an industry association that works for the growth and development of the consumer durables industry in India.

Easy finance

In his keynote address, former CETMA president and chairman and managing director of Mirc Electronics, Gulu Mirchandani, said the retail sector was set to explode because of the disposable incomes of people. "Nothing is unaffordable due to the availability of easy finance," he said. Mr. Mirchandani advised dealers to become proactive and stock new products. Though foreign direct investment had not been allowed as of now, it was only a matter of time before retail giants came into the country, he said.

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