After a decade, Sony Corp back to India. Will make Bravia line of TVs in India

‘Make in India’ has brought Sony Corp back to India after a decade. The Japanese company will soon start manufacturing its Bravia line of television in the country.

Sony Corp has entered into an agreement to manufacture Bravia line at Taiwanese contract manufacturer major Foxconn's plant near Chennai.

Not only this, Sony may set up its own plant in India as it is also chalking out a possibility of making smartphones in the country.

"While at present, all production will be for the Indian market, we may also start exports. If this turns out to be successful, Sony may evaluate setting up its own plant in India," Sony India managing director, Kenichiro Hibi, told Economic Times.

"The government's 'Make in India' policy and the growing importance of India for Sony worldwide has accelerated our decision to manufacture in India once again. Local production will help us to be more competitive, lower costs and allow faster turnaround time to launch newer models," Hibi told ET.

For the starters, Sony is manufacturing two 43-inch models running Google's Android operating system at the Sriperumbudur plant of Competition Team Technology (India) and the first shipment will start from Tuesday. The production line will soon be expanded to include 22-43 inch screen televisions.

Reportedly, after US, China and Japan, India is the fourth-largest market for Sony as Sony India clocked Rs 10,600 crore sales in 2014-15, with televisions and smartphones contributing 40% each to its revenues.

Sony exited India manufacturing in 2004 when it locked down its facility in Haryana.

Its rivals Samsung and LG already manufacture TVs in India.

ET reported that smartphone manufacturers, too, plan to start manufacturing in India as the country is expected to overtake US to become the second-largest smartphone market by 2017.

(Image: Reuters)