TVs to get costlier as falling rupee, high input costs take a toll on manufacturers

The ongoing margin pressure may lead to increased market consolidation, with larger players absorbing some margin hits

Several TV brands in India are considering raising prices by up to 7 percent due to the continued depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar and the rising costs of open cells, according to industry executives and analysts. They warn that the weaker rupee and increasing production costs could affect the market in 2025, leading to single-digit shipment growth.

“The TV manufacturing sector is experiencing considerable pricing pressures. China's influence on the global TV market has significantly driven up costs and disrupted the supply chain. Consequently, we are compelled to implement a price increase on our televisions by the end of March,” Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd, a Kodak brand Licensee, told Moneycontrol. “The approximate price increase would be 5-7 percent.”

Industry watchers said that several other smaller brands, currently grappling with market challenges stemming from a slowdown in demand and increasing margin pressure, are also contemplating price hikes to avoid losses. They may take a decision by next month.

“To sustain their margins, they may opt for modest price hikes rather than significant ones, as substantial increases could further impact TV shipments. The depreciating Rupee, combined with rising logistics costs, is driving up costs for OEMs,” Anshika Jain, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Moneycontrol.

The ongoing margin pressure may lead to increased market consolidation, with larger players absorbing some margin hits. In comparison, smaller players are likely to raise their TV prices significantly to offset the higher production cost.

“The depreciating Rupee and rising costs could have an overall impact on the market in 2025, with single-digit shipment growth,” Jain said.

Faisal Kawoosa, founder and analyst, said TV is one such category that has yet to achieve much domestic value addition, as in the case of smartphones. “We are still importing all key components, including TV open cells. They have no way but to increase the price to absorb the rupee depreciation.”

Queries sent to Samsung, Xiaomi, LG, Sony and Haier didn’t elicit any response.

Brands exit as TV market declines in 2024

Counterpoint Research shows that India’s smart TV market declined by 3 percent in 2024, and the overall TV market declined 6 percent due to macroeconomic challenges, inflation, and cautious consumer spending. The ongoing issues will further impact growth despite the premiumisation trend.

Rising input costs also led to contraction. As margins shrank for smaller brands, some exited the Indian market.

As per data exclusively available with Moneycontrol, over 15 long-tail brands operating in the Rs 10,000, 15,000 price segment exited the Indian market in 2024 due to competition and margin pressures.

“Over 75 brand brands were operating in India in 2023, and the number has fallen to around 60 in 2024…Intex, Philips, Amazon Basic, and Panwood, among others, stopped selling TVs in 2024,” Jain said.

Notably, Chinese handset brands like OnePlus and Realme withdrew from India’s smart TV segment and could not compete with established players such as Xiaomi, Samsung, LG, Sony, and TCL.

As per Counterpoint, LG, Sony, TCL, Samsung, and Xiaomi accounted for over half of the smart TV shipments in 2024.