Industrial Automation Magazine India

The Indian consumer electronics sector is heavily reliant on imports

Published on : Sunday 01-05-2022

Arjun Bajaaj, CEO and Founder, Daiwa.

What prompted you to launch your own brand when you were already part of a business with decades of experience in TV manufacturing?
We began our journey in 2016 on the route to addressing the ongoing crisis in the TV industry. We realised that the TV market was going through a difficult period in which most brands were sourcing final products from China and assembling in India while calling it 'Make in India' and lacked implementation, which is where we felt the need to build a brand that truly resonates the ‘Make in India’ philosophy not only in terms of design and performance but also functionalities designed to meet the needs of the audience. With our entire production setup, knowledge, and excellent R&D, we had primarily been putting this idea into practise, which resulted to the development of Daiwa, a subsidiary of Videotex, a well-known ODM brand that has been in operation for over 38 years. Today Daiwa, is reckoned among top 10 TV brands in India, and has established a very strong foothold, at pan India level.

How indigenous is Daiwa TV in terms of all its components? How much of it is imported? 
Because there are no manufacturing operations in India, the Indian consumer electronics sector is heavily reliant on China for all components and Open Cell. We have substantially invested in our infrastructure and backward integration in order to manufacture the TVs at a low cost and pass the savings on to our customers. In terms of localisation, we would estimate that around 80% of raw material costs are imported, which is why India is in desperate need of infrastructural improvements as well as display fabs and semiconductor units.

India is a price sensitive market yet the customer expects a premium product at low price – how do you balance this equation?

For our TVs, which are solely accessible in the Indian market, we have always focused on creating the superior technology at the most reasonable price. We make every effort to give our customers an unrivalled experience. This, along with decades of manufacturing expertise, backward integration, excellent R&D, and a good understanding of growing customer demands, ensures that our products are a perfect market match in terms of price range. Our premium products reflect consumer sentiments, and we make certain that they are affordable to our customers. Our products stand out from the crowd and from the competitors. We have introduced various new technologies in India, such as Wide Color Gamut for enhanced picture quality, Tailoring Speakers to Indian Needs, Unique Remote with Direct App Keys and Keyboard for Easy Surf on Smart TVs, Balancing Voltage Fluctuations for TV as per Indian power conditions, and so on. Additionally, we are the first Indian brand to debut 4K smart TVs powered by webOS TV providing the consumers an enriched viewing experience. Our goal has always been to go above in terms of user deliverables. We do not want to follow the stereotyped industry, and each one of our products resonates the same viewpoint. Daiwa's major goal is to dispel the idea that high-quality items are only available at a high price.

How smart is the manufacturing facility? What kind of machinery and automation has gone into it? 
All Daiwa TVs are manufactured in the Videotex facility, which boasts a cutting-edge production facility with 2 SMT lines with 3D Automatic Optical Inspection, 3 LCM lines for Panel Manufacturing, 2 Final Assemble Lines, Reliability Labs, 2 R&D Centres, and so on. The products at the Videotex factory are subjected to rigorous testing and around 35 separate quality checks at various stages to guarantee that they satisfy high-quality requirements and reach our customers safely. Videotex now has a capacity of 1.4 million TVs per year.

These gadgets are expected to last without needing any repairs – how stringent is the quality control department?
Our best selling point continues to be our after-sales support. We went a step further and established our own Daiwa App, a service app that allows customer interaction via chat or through our customer care 6 days a week. Users can track the status of their service and once they are satisfied with the service, they must submit an OTP that they would receive for call closure to ensure satisfaction. Aside from that, our enhanced product warranty has increased consumer trust in Daiwa products. We guarantee to give customers with good value for money as well as best-in-class technology. 

What about the design aspects and R&D – how big is the team and budget?

Videotex has established cutting-edge R&D centres in India as well as in Shenzhen, China. We are a creative and active team that spends all of our time exploring new technologies and designing our own Made in India products. Our products are not only made in India, but they are also created with an awareness of the demands of the Indian markets in mind. Our study areas are also fairly diverse, spanning from AI and machine learning to open source.

Are there other consumer durables under the Daiwa brand? How do you see the growth over the next few years?
Yes, apart from TVs we do have washing machines. We have launched about 10 models in the last two and a half years. This year we have a new line up of big size washing machines that would be launching soon along with a new category in the washing machine later in the year. We have seen a great response in the offline space and we expect a wider reach on the market this year and we are aligning our team accordingly.

What more policy initiatives are needed for Make in India to go to the next level?
The government is determined to bring about long-overdue improvements that will make India 'Atmanirbhar' by aggressively promoting Make in India projects. The sector requires government assistance to expand distribution and supply networks. By investing in infrastructure, the government will improve the 'ease of doing business' and position India on the global manufacturing stage. The government must incentivise and encourage investments in the industrial environment while also encouraging local innovation among technology providers.

Arjun Bajaaj is CEO and Founder, Daiwa, and Director – Videotex International. 

Arjun began his entrepreneurial journey with Daiwa in 2016 and is largely responsible for leading the company's expansion into India. In a short span, Arjun has overhauled the company into one of India's largest conglomerate. He has been instrumental in building opportunities out of the challenging Indian markets. Under his leadership the brand has been one of the preferred brands in the online space in India and also has made in ways to the offline channels. Re-structuring the way business operates in India, Arjun has put immense effort on the R&D/Technology to carve a niche for the brand Daiwa & Shinco, over the price points. It's under his able leadership, that Daiwa has series of firsts to its credit which includes the first to support Indian power consumption patterns, air mouse, box speakers and also the first to have the entire back end integration to manufacture TV, Daiwa is also the first Indian brand to launch its own custom UI ‘The Big Wall’ with certified apps for its Smart TVs.