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slew of new launches across categories like televisions,
refrigerators, and washing machines as well as financing schemes
have buoyed sales, said Raju Pullan, senior vice president for
consumer electronics at Samsung India.
"We're seeing 32% growth (year-on-year) across televisions,
refrigerators, washing machines and microwaves," Pullan told
Reuters on Thursday.
The demand uptick is good news for the Indian economy, which
contracted by 23.9% in April-June during a stringent lockdown to
slow the spread of the pandemic.
Indians typically make big-ticket purchases of everything from
gold to cars and electronics during the country's festive
season, which typically begins around October and lasts until
the end of the year.
While the value of overall sales last month was much higher in
cities like Delhi and Mumbai, sales growth in smaller towns
outpaced the bigger cities, Pullan said.
Samsung also witnessed a shift in consumer behaviour with
growing purchases of pricey, high-end televisions.
"Consumers are spending more time at home, and are not able to
venture out for entertainment," said Pullan. "That's leading to
some quality purchases."
As India's coronavirus infections reach 8.36 million, people are
being cautious in stepping out for daily purchases. That has
also boosted sales of large-capacity refrigerators for Samsung,
Pullan said.
Samsung's overall consumer electronics sales grew an annual 20%
in Aug-Sept after India's economy began opening up, Pullan said,
declining to comment whether sales in the second half of the
year would be enough to bridge the shortfall during the lockdown
period.
(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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