Sony India puts off price hike for now

With the rupee gaining ground against the dollar in the last few days, Sony India has, for the moment, put off plans to hike prices of its products.

Tadato Kimura, Head-Marketing, said the company was not considering a price revision of its products as of now.

“But if the rupee moves close to the Rs 70-mark against the dollar, we may have to hike prices. But, if the domestic currency strengthens close to Rs 55 a dollar, we will reduce prices,” he said.

When the rupee had been sliding against the dollar, touching Rs 68.80, last month, the market expected a price increase from the Sony stable.

However, it jumped to a one-month high of Rs 61.77 a dollar on Thursday last week after the US Fed’s announcement to continue with its monetary stimulus programme.

“Our expectation for the year was Rs 54.50 a dollar. Even at this level, though we are not too comfortable, we will keep prices unchanged,” he said.

Sony India is set to come out with new offerings in the sub-premium smartphone category this fiscal.

Sony, which is among the top three players in the premium segment, will start off with the launch of an upgraded version of its Xperia M model, which is priced at about Rs 13,000.

“The new model will be priced about Rs 20,000 and will have more features than the Xperia M. We plan to launch it sometime next month, before Diwali,” he added. Sony is in the process of rolling out its latest Xperia Z1 model, priced at Rs 44,940, across the country.

Despite the tough economic conditions, Sony India, which recently clubbed its electronics and mobile businesses, expects a 30 per cent growth over last year’s revenue of about Rs 8,000 crore. It expects India to remain in the fourth place it its global markets, after US, China and Japan.

“Whether we move up this ladder or not we will know at the end of the year. But so far this year, we are on track,” Kimura said.