Sony India to hire 600 this year

Sony India will be hiring 600 people, 100 as permanent and 500 as temporary employees, this financial year in India. This is happening at a time when Sony Corp is laying off 10,000 people worldwide as part of its restructuring exercise under its new global President and CEO Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai. Sony India currently has 850 permanent and 3,300 temporary employees on its payroll in the country.
 
Speaking at a press conference to launch the latest Sony Cyber-shot digital camera series, Sony India Managing Director Masaru Tamagawa, said Indian division is making healthy profits and good revenue growth. The company posted revenues of Rs 5,400 crore in FY 2010-11. The company has earlier targeted revenues of Rs 7,400 crore for FY 2011-12, which will be declared in mid-May.

The parent company, one of the largest electronics company in the world, is losing out to its South Korean rival Samsung, and has not made profits in the past four years. Tamagawa said that India is different from the other parts of the world for Sony.

For Sony, India is already the fifth biggest market and contributes five per cent to its global revenue. Bravia LCD series contributes 35 per cent of revenues to the company, while Vaio laptop is the second biggest contributor. Cyber-shot digital still camera series contributes the third biggest contributor with 20 per cent of its sales.

Sony India currently holds 40-42* per cent of the digital still camera market and surpassed the industry growth of 40 per cent with a 45 per cent growth last financial year, 2011-12. The company sold 11 lakh units last year.

With the launch of the new H, W and S series, it aims to capture the 45 per cent market share. The company also plans to increase its dealer network from 2,500 to 3,000 by the end of this financial year. The company has allocated Rs 50 crore for advertising and marketing this financial year for the Cyber-shot cameras.

*Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Sony holds 42 per cent of the digital still camera market. The correct figure is 40-42 per cent.