Consumer durable firms such as Whirlpool, Haier, Panasonic, Daikin and Godrej Appliances are hiking the pricing of their products by 5 percent after the removal of excise duty sops and high input costs.
Regarding this, Eric Braganza, President, HaierIndiaclaimed that with the excise duty concessions coming to an end, price hike a pretty inevitable. The firm will be increasing the pricing of their range by 3 percent to 5 percent based on the model. He further added that the price hike is effective on the new stocks.
Besides Haier, another dominant player in the consumer durables segment that is also looking to following a similar move is a Godrej Appliances. Kamal Nandi, Business Head and Executive Vice President at Godrej Appliances claimed that the firm is planning to revise the prices of its products by 3 percent to 5 percent based on the model.
The major factors that have resulted in a price hike are the two percent increase in the excise duty and the deteriorating rupee value against the US dollar that has eventually increased the input costs.
The Indian government decided against the extension of excise duty sops that were provided to the consumer durables industry December 31, 2014. The excise duty for the products in this sector is now 12 percent, while it was 10 percent earlier.
The Managing Director of Panasonic India and South Asia, Manish Sharma claimed that the government’s decision of not extending the excise duty cut on consumer durables will definitely hit the sentiment of buyers and that will impact the sales. He further added that the rollback of the excise duty in this segment has increased the pricing of the products and has burdened the consumers.
Notably, Panasonic has increased the pricing of its air conditioners by 3 percent and that of home appliances by 2 percent to 3 percent. Also, Whirlpool is planning to increase the pricing of its products by 2 percent to 3 percent from mid-January claimed a senior official with the firm. Daikin is also likely to increase the price of its air conditioners by 4 percents on an average.
