Sony to hire 500 people in India in 2012-13

**New Delhi:**In contrast to its loss makingJapanese parent, Sony India today said it is registering"healthy profit" and even plans to increase its headcount by

500 people in the current financial year.

“The situation in India is different from the otherglobal markets, where Sony is witnessing pressure. We arehaving strong growth and healthy profits,” Sony India ManagingDirector Masaru Tamagawa told reporters here.

Stating that Sony India expects to continue good growth,he said the company plans to ramp up its manpower strength inthe near future.

“Considering both permanent and contract workers, we areat present employing a total of 3,300 people in India. This number will go up to 3,800 by March 2013,” Tamagawa said.

This iscontrary to the parent, Sony Corporation reported to havedecided to cut 10,000 jobs, probably by the end of this yearto reduce loss.In February this year, the Japanese electronics goodsmajor had forecast a consolidated net loss of 220 billion yenfor the financial year ending 31 March 2012.

“Currently the Indian market is contributing 5 percentof the global revenue and it may rise up to 6 percent in thenext one year. Sony India had a revenue of Rs 5,400 crore in2010-11,” Tamagawa said, adding the company will announce theresults for FY'12 in the next few weeks.

He said the Indian operations is the fifth largest forSony globally after Japan, the US, China and Brazil.“We are closer to Brazil than the other three markets,

which are very large. In the next two years, we may overtakethe Brazilian market,” he added.

Sony India’s growth is primarily led by three divisionsBravia - range of televisions, Vaio branded computers and digital imaging products like Cyber-shot cameras.

In order to push its growth further, Sony India todaylaunched a series of 34 new digital cameras in the country,priced between Rs 5,490 and Rs 27,990.

“With 45 percent growth last fiscal, we outperformed thedigital camera market’s rate of 40 percent. We are targettingto increase our share in the market to 45 percent in thisfiscal from 42 percent in last fiscal,” Tamagawa said.

According to Sony India, the digital still camera marketin the country stood at 33 lakh units in FY'12 and is expectedto increase to 42 lakh units by 2012-13.

The company is aiming to sell 14 lakh units of thesecameras in FY'13 compared to last fiscal’s 11 lakh units.Tamagawa said the company will invest Rs 50 crore in itsmarketing strategy and different brand promotional activities.

Besides, the company plans to increase its sales pointsto 3,000 outlets by the end of this financial year from 2,500in FY'12, he added.

In contrast to the growth in its Indian operations, SonyCorporation is bleeding in its home market and other developednations like the US.

For the third quarter ended 31 December 2011, SonyCorp’s net loss stood at 159 billion yen compared to a netincome of 72.3 billion yen in the year-ago period. The company’s sales and operating revenue also declinedby 17.37 percent to 1.82 trillion yen from 2.21 trillion yenin the third quarter ended 31 December 2010.

The decrease in consolidated sales was attributed to theimpact of the devastating flood in Thailand, unfavourablemarket conditions in developed nations and adverse foreignexchange rates.

PTI