Cracker of a season for durables

This Diwali has brought happy tidings for the Rs 22,000-crore consumer durables industry.

The home appliances segment, which grew 30 per cent, has led the growth charts. Within this segment, CTVs have recorded 12 per cent growth, refrigerators 30 per cent and ACs 49 per cent.

In fact, the festive season has been so good that the major players, LG, Samsung and Videocon, are close to achieving their season’s targets. “We are confident of achieving our Rs 1,200-crore target, a growth of 41 per cent over the sales for the corresponding period last year,” says Pradeep Tognatta, Director, Sales & Marketing, Samsung India.

Adds V. Ramachandran, Director, Sales & Marketing, LG Electronics India: “This time, Diwali was especially very good as people had sufficient money thanks to the booming stock market. Also, money has been diverted towards our segment from a rather heated real estate market; the fact that the automobile segment has slowed down has also helped us.”