Sony, in a bid to drive Bravia televison sales in India, will now be manufacturing the TV sets locally, giving a fillip to the "Make in India" initiative of the Modi government.
The TV sets will be manufactured at Foxconn's plant near Chennai.
"With Bravia television being locally manufactured in India from this year, we expect sales to accelerate over the next few years," said Satish Padmanabhan, Sales Head at Sony India.
In a related development, home-grown smartphone maker Micromax said it will manufacture all its handsets in India by 2018, said Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma.
South Korean consumer electronics firm Samsung already has a significant presence in India for manufacturing and research and development in India at Noida, Chennai and Bangalore.
"Samsung made investments in production and research and development at our factories in Noida and Chennai and in our R&D Center in Bangalore and Noida. This includes expansion at the Noida mobile phone facility. All these points to our commitment to India, and our firm belief that India is the future," PTI quoted a Samsung spokesperson as saying.
India is witnessing a spurt in manufacturing since the last few months, as was evident from the second quarter GDP numbers. While the GDP grew 7.4%, manufacturing grew at 9.3%.
The likely implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission is expected to give a boost to demand for consumer products, encouraging companies to invest more.
"Obviously, there is a growth but had then been able to access the global market, the situation would have been far far better and I think that there is an opportunity to do so because make-in-India as China is getting more expensive now," EY India Partner and National Leader Retail and Consumer Products, Pinakiranjan Mishra said.
"The surge in aspirations of youth in small towns and tier-II cities, who clearly understand their gadget needs, have led to a greater number upgrading the technology products, be it smartphones, televisions and home appliances, among others," said Samsung India spokesperson, adds PTI.
