Kodak TV India to invest Rs 500 cr for new plant in UP

New Delhi

Kodak TV India on Tuesday announced that it would invest more than Rs 500 crore in the next three years to set up a fully automated TV manufacturing plant at Hapur in Uttar Pradesh.

The new plant would be used to develop and test Android TV products so as to reduce dependency on other countries, a company statement said.

Avneet Singh Marwah, founder and CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd, Kodak Brand Licensee in India, said: "Currently, the Indian TV industry imports most of the raw material and has a value addition of only 10-12 per cent. However, with this investment, Kodak HD LED TV aims to increase the value addition to 50-60 per cent."

"After the investment, we aim to increase the Kodak Smart TVs' market share up to 10 per cent by 2021-22," he said.

According to Marwah, around 2,000 new jobs would be created through this plant.

The majority of the brand's investment in this plant will be used to set up an R&D centre and also create a complete ecosystem for smart homes, he said, adding that the company would continue to invest in its infrastructure.

Kodak TV plans to set up more than 38 warehouses and 600 service centres across India, Marwah added.

The certified Android TV manufacturing plant with complete backward integration and R&D centre would be made operational by 2021. With a capacity to produce a million TV sets annually, the new facility would be equipped with two fully automated, AI-enabled manufacturing lines to facilitate near-contactless production.

The facility would also adhere to all international guidelines for product and employee safety, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement said.

The increased production capacity will also enable Kodak TV India to export TVs to other major Android TV markets.

The development comes in the wake of the enthusiastic response to the Kodak CA Series launched in March 2020 and the recently launched 7XPRO Model, as per the statement. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Kodak TV India has recovered 65 per cent of its sales after resuming operations due to the growing 'Make in India' sentiment and its aggressive pricing, it said.