Panasonic to start acid battery manufacturing in India

MUMBAI: Panasonic will start an automotive acid battery factory in India and is exploring more domestic manufacturing opportunity under the Make in India campaign. The Indian arm contributes a mere 2% of global revenue, but the Japanese major is turning eyes on the Indian market, even on enterprise segment which is a booming for Panasonic globally, said Manish Sharma, managing director, India and South Asia.

Last year the company entered into a joint venture with Uno Minda for a battery factory, which would become operational in September, he said.

In addition to this, Sharma said that there were further opportunities to make in refrigerators, where demand today outstrips supply, and in the energy spaces. Panasonic will look for opportunities to tie-up with India partners for more such factories, he said.

"We are looking at some business models that will be capital intensive and Japan is willing to support," said Sharma.

The Indian arm is expected to clock 30% revenue growth each year till 2018, he said. The contribution from sales to enterprises over the next three years is likely to double, and boost growth, primarily in the areas of energy storage and security.

Just last week, the company launched a video monitoring service, sold for a monthly subscription rather than lump sums for equipment. The solution run in association with Reliance Communications will connect cameras to an intelligence system that can help businesses analyze consumer trends apart from security monitoring.

Globally business to business sales contribute 72% of Panasonic's sales. The Indian arm is picking relevant solution to sell to enterprises.

"We have grown 12 times our size since 2009, but the base was small. Going forward we will look at a 30% CAGR."

Sharma believes that sale of consumer goods will become commoditized. Products that have intelligence and are connected via the Internet will mark the future success and premium on products.

Thereafter Panasonic will look at partners that will help a quicker and wider go to market strategy for Panasonic's solutions, said Sharma.