Thomson re-enters Indian market with 3 smart LED TVs

Thomson launched three new smart LED TVs starting at ₹13,940.

Thomson Smart TVs are available on Flipkart starting today. (Thomson TV)

French electronics brand Thomson on Thursday launched three new Smart TVs in India. Thomson made its re-entry into the Indian market with its 43-inch UHD 4K, 40-inch and 32-inch smart TV's. All three products are exclusively available on Flipkart starting today.

Thomson 32-inch Smart TV is priced at ₹13,490, the 40-inch model retailing at ₹19,990, and the 43-inch UHD 4K TV selling at ₹27,999. Thomson's television sets will be manufactured in India by its brand licensee - Super Plastronics. The Smart TVs runs on Android 4.0 and above with pre-installed apps like Gmail, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Netflix. It also features Aptoide which allows users to download any app.

"With the launch, we aim to capture 6-7% of the total TV market share and make Thomson the number one online smart TV brand in India," Super Plastronics CEO Avneet Singh Marwah told reporters here.

He added that the company is investing ₹150 crore in its three manufacturing units at -- Noida, Una and Jammu to upgrade the facilities.

Apart from Thomson, Super Plastronics holds licence for other brands like Kodak TV, Crown and SVK.

"We have already planned to put one more manufacturing line of LED TV by next quarter in order to offer Indian consumer products that are at par with global standards," he said.

Marwah further said: "We aim to touch ₹500 crore turnover in FY 2018-19."

Thomson's latest smart TVs will go head to head with new entrants Xiaomi and Vu. In February this year, Chinese tech major Xiaomi had unveiled its 55-inch LED TV for ₹39,999. Since then, it has added 43-inch and 32-inch TV sets to its portfolio. Vu, on the other hand, offers TV sets ranging between 24-inch screens to 75-inch, with prices starting around ₹10,000.

Apart from these new brands, Thomson will also compete with the top three TV brands -- Sony, Samsung and LG that together account for almost 90% of the market.

Brand Thomson is owned by Technicolor SA, France. According to Technicolor Head, Intellectual Property and Licensing, Claire Villeneuve, it has five brand licence agreements globally for markets as China, US, Europe and Africa.

Villeneuve did not share the period for which it has granted brand licensing rights to Super Plastronics and said: "We have signed a contract which would be automatically renewed."