Contributed by Ravi Srinivasan

We peep into the entertainment and display industry today. With the burgeoning middle class story and the higher purchasing power, people are willing to spend more and more on leisure and entertainment and this is obviously getting consumer companies all excited. This has made them introduce newer technologies into the market recently and we are now at par with the worlds best markets in terms of the product portfolio available.

Technologies like LCD or even the Plasma are not new. They have been with the west for years now and you might even remember standing with your kids in a mall five years back and gawking at the sleek 32 inch screen in front of you. But in the last 2-3 years they have entered our lives in an omnipresent manner. Even the screen sizes have been improving, with many households upgrading to 25 and 29 inch TVs lately. Sales of this large screen segment have grown at 100% annually over the last two years.

Now with companies like LG, Samsung and Sony joining our domestic players like Videocon and Onida in reducing the speed to market of these, you can expect to see newer ideas coming to the store next to you right away. Not only are there better TVs now, they also come cheaper – enter the red ocean price war here. Companies are doing all they can to sell these at the lowest prices, from exchange offers to zero interest EMIs. But the reason you find me mentioning this on a SME blog is the following – to further cut costs, companies are also manufacturing many parts of these TVs and displays in India now! So, if you feel you can efficiently replicate what are high tech, but prevalent manufacturing processes, then this is a very good time to become an Original Equipment Manufacturer for these in India. With next generation technologies like Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays fast creeping into our world (and I mean the Indian market place – we already have OLED cameras, mobile phones and car audio systems in India) there is a lot of scope for future growth too. Because, as long as you can keep up with the market innovations, consumer demand for them is in no short supply!!