Thomson re-enters Indian market with smart LED TVs

French electronics brand Thomson today announced its re-entry into the Indian market with its range of 'aggressively priced' smart LED TVs that will compete with the likes of Xiaomi and Vu.

The company, whose television sets will be manufactured in India by its brand licensee - Super Plastronics, unveiled three models with prices starting at Rs 13,490 (32-inch TV).

"With the launch, we aim to capture 6-7 percent of the total TV market share and make Thomson the number one online smart TV brand in India," Super Plastronics CEO Avneet Singh Marwah told reporters here.

He added that the company is investing Rs 150 crore in its three manufacturing units at -- Noida, Una and Jammu to upgrade the facilities.

Apart from Thomson, Super Plastronics holds licence for other brands like Kodak TV, Crown and SVK.

"We have already planned to put one more manufacturing line of LED TV by next quarter in order to offer Indian consumer products that are at par with global standards," he said.

Marwah further said: "We aim to touch Rs 500 crore turnover in FY 2018-19."

In February this year, Chinese tech major Xiaomi had unveiled its 55-inch LED TV for Rs 39,999. Since then, it has added 43-inch and 32-inch TV sets to its portfolio.

Vu, on the other hand, offers TV sets ranging between 24-inch screens to 75-inch, with prices starting around Rs 10,000.

Apart from these new brands, Thomson will also compete with the top three TV brands -- Sony, Samsung and LG that together account for almost 90 percent of the market.

Thomson has launched two other models of smart TV of 40 inch and 43 inch screen size, priced respectively at Rs 19,990 and Rs 27,999.

It has entered into exclusive sales agreement with Flipkart for Thomson and its sale would be started tomorrow.

Brand Thomson is owned by Technicolor SA, France.

Accoring to Technicolor Head, Intellectual Property and Licensing, Claire Villeneuve, it has five brand licene agreements globally for markets as China, US, Europe and Africa.

Villeneuve did not share the period for which it has granted brand licensing rights to Super Plastronics and said: "We have signed a contract which would be automatically renewed.