Prices of LED TVs are set to rise further from April as the cost of open-cell panels has gone up in the global markets by up to 35 per cent in the past one month. Brands including Panasonic, Haier and Thomson are considering to increase prices from April this year, while some like LG have already raised prices due to hike in prices of open-cell. Panasonic India, South Asia President and CEO Manish Sharma said, “Panel prices are rising continuously and so are the prices of TVs. It is likely that TV prices may increase further by April”.
On being asked about the quantum on increase, he stated, “Seeing current trends, it might go up 5-7 per cent”. Expressing similarly, Haier Appliances India President Eric Braganza said there is no other way than to increase the prices. The prices of open-cell have gone up tremendously and the trends are that it would keep on increasing, Braganza added that if that continues, the company will have to continuously increase prices. The open-cell panel is an important part of TV manufacturing and covers around 60 per cent of the unit. Companies import television panels in an open-cell state, which require further assembling with value addition before being shipped to market for sale.
Super Plantronics Pvt Ltd, the brand license for French Electronics brand Thomson and the US-based brand Kodak, there is a scarcity of open cell in the market and the prices have almost gone up by three-folds in the past eight months. From the past eight months, there has been a month-on-month increase in panel prices, the company has witnessed more than 350 per cent spike in LED TV panels. Globally, panel market has slowed down. Despite that, there has been an increase of 35 per cent in the past 30 days.
The government should bring TV manufacturing under the production-linked incentive scheme, a move which will make the Indian TV industry more competitive on the global stage. Last year, the government had restored the import duty on open cell. It had re-imposed 5 per cent customs duty on the import of open-cell for TVs from October 1, 2020, after having nil duty for a year.
