Panasonic India General Manager(Professional Display Division)Vineet Mahajan talks about the projector market in India and shares the company’s expansion plans for the Indian market in an interview with ENN
Please give us an overview of the projector market in India.
The overall Indian projector market was 275,000 units in 2012. It is expected to grow by 18 percent annually in the next three years. The market has immense potential as the government is giving special focus to the education segment and up gradation of audio video infrastructure. The changing lifestyle of youth, decrease in technology prices, and increase in the spending on electronics has led to an upsurge in the demand for high-end products. The demand for projectors is on a rising curve due to strong buying in education, government, cinema, IT/ITES segments, corporate, etc.
With IT infrastructure spending becoming an essential part of every business budget, projectors are on their way to become integral to any organisation. The market is evolving as projectors are being used for advanced system applications like curved screens, dome projections, simulations, seamless long wall, etc. Customers understand that projectors have a lot to offer in the audio video industry in the form of special installations from high-end projectors with high brightness and advanced features like geometric correction, edge blending, etc. We also see a shift in the demand of brightness levels. The market is graduating to 3,000 lumens and above from 2,000 lumens until last year. There is also an increase in the demand for XGA and WXGA resolution models.
Is it true that the education sector has come up as one of the key demand drivers for projectors?
With the advent of growing technologies, education today has moved out of the realm of conventional methods of teaching to a smarter and digitised form of imparting knowledge to give a real-life experience of learning. It has clearly emerged as the major contributor to the growing demand of projectors and accounts for more than 30 percent of the total demand for projectors in India. The Indian higher education sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25 percent by 2015 with increase in investment and ample of other opportunities.
Please brief us about the market segmentation of projectors.
The market can be broadly segmented into the following verticals: primary education, government, corporate, cinema, home cinema, digital signage, rental, event management, higher education and tourism.
Projectors have undergone tremendous evolution in terms of technology in the past years. Please tell us about the latest trends in the technology used in projectors today.
On the technology front, both LCD and DLP projectors are in demand. Gradually, the market has witnessed a trend in LED lamp technology. LED lamp-based projectors are attracting demand nowadays, but the price factor will be a challenge. A revision in prices will fetch a good demand of these projectors as their average life is 20,000 hours and the customer does not have to worry about the replacement of the lamp at regular intervals.
With IT infrastructure spending becoming an essential part of every business budget, projectors are on their way to become integral to any organisation
In the current scenario, we do not see drastic emergence of Pico projectors. However, we believe it will witness a demand in the years to come. Further, these projectors have the capability to overcome screen size limitations that exist in mobile electronics devices. Hence, they are capable of projecting large images, irrespective of their size. Thus, the usage of such projectors is best suited for small spaces, and for people who are constantly on the move and need a device to project a presentation to a group of customers.
Secondly, with the shift for better viewing experience, third dimension (3D) technology in projectors is catching up very fast in India. These projectors aim at bringing pictures which are life-like and might just be conned into thinking that the images of people that on the screen are actually real.
Please share your marketing plans for the projector segment.
The fiscal year 2012 has been excellent for Panasonic with 180 percent sales growth over last year in the projector segment. The growth is 250 percent in quantity. Expanding its existing range of projectors with 28 new exceptional models in the last six months, Panasonic now has an array of 53 breakthrough projectors. With plans to keep up with its bullish performance and the wide expanse of projectors catering to the masses as well as the niche segments, we are targeting a market share of 20 percent in Indian market by end of FY2012.
In the near future, you can expect a more robust and higher line-up from us. We will continue our investment in high-end models with advanced features and will encourage special installations that will enhance the top line.
At the same time, we will launch more price sensitive volume zone models for the education and government segments. We aim to maintain right balance between high-end and price sensitive models. We shall continue our dominance in cinema/home cinema and corporate market and will enhance our share in the education vertical.
Please comment on your expansion plans for the projector segment.
This expansion will enable Panasonic to reach out to a wider array of consumers while also achieving consumer satisfaction. Panasonic has in its portfolio, an extensive variety of best-inclass projectors ranging from 2,200 lumens to 20,000 lumens within the price range of `28,000 to `35,00,000. These include LCD/DLP projectors, targeted specifically for the corporate, educational institutions, and government organisations; home cinema projectors meant for the premium individual users; and high-end DLP projectors for multiplexes. The portfolio of 53 models is capable enough to satisfy the dynamic needs of the market for diverse applications like presentation, video conferencing, digital signage, rental and e-Cinema.
