India is 2nd biggest market in Asia Pacific for Toughbooks: Panasonic

Panasonic claims its ‘Toughbook’ range has a 65% market share in the rugged device segment.

Panasonic Corp's logo is pictured at Panasonic Center in Tokyo, Japan, February 2, 2017. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

Panasonic expects India to account for about 5% of its global revenues in the niche "rugged devices" segment in next two-three years.

"India does not contribute big numbers as of now. But it is growing at double-digit and in the next 2-3 years, it should be atleast five per cent of our global revenues," Panasonic Head of Mobile Solutions Business Division Eriko Okuda told PTI.

She added that Panasonic 'Toughbook' range has a 65 per cent share of the Indian market in the 'rugged devices' category.

Its larger markets include countries like the US, Japan, Germany and the UK. India is the second largest market for Toughbooks in the Asia Pacific region after Australia.

"Last year, in value terms we did business worth ₹80 crore and we expect to touch ₹100 crore by the end of this fiscal," she said.

Panasonic has a portfolio over 10 products, including handhelds, in the rugged devices category in India with prices starting from ₹85,000.

Panasonic Senior GM and National Business Head (Toughbook) Gunjan Sachdev said the government sector accounted for 35 per cent of the business.

"Government is a very big vertical for us. We see strong demand in defence, manufacturing and utilities," he said.

Panasonic is launching a new 12-inch two-in-one detachable rugged laptop -- Toughbook CF-33 -- priced at ₹2.7 lakh.

Panasonic's competitors globally in the segment include Getac and Dell, among others.

The company's rugged PCs are manufactured at its facilities in Japan and Taiwan. It has no immediate plans of making Toughbooks in India as of now.