India can become 2nd largest market for BenQ: President APAC region

Taipei (Taiwan), May 27 (PTI) Taiwan-based display solutions provider BenQ sees a possibility of India becoming its second largest market globally, helped by rising purchasing power and opportunities in the education and healthcare sectors, said its President APAC region Jeffrey Liang.

BenQ Group is expanding its play in the segment with more premium offerings of monitors and projectors to tap the growing number of rich people and the booming middle class.

The company has third-party manufacturing operations in India, and its parent firm Qisda Corporation is now looking at the possibility of having its own production unit, Liang said.

"Right now, they (Qisda) are also investigating the other possibilities…I think India is one of the possibilities for BenQ to have its manufacturing unit," Liang told PTI.

Moreover, BenQ is also focusing on the education sector in India, which provides a huge runway for growth, where the government and the private sector are converting their conventional classroom into smart classrooms equipped with projectors and interactive flat panels.

"BenQ has been growing in India in consumer, education and corporate business. We see that India, which is right now the fourth-largest country in the world in terms of global economy, will soon become one of the top three global economies. So we do see rising demand from India," he said.

Currently, India is the third-largest market for BenQ after the US and China.

On whether India has the potential to become one of the two largest markets for the company, Liang said: "I think it's very (much) possible." "It will depend on how good our team is there, because the market opportunity is there, and we do have excellent products. So, it is not only about how quickly we bring it up. It is about how good we can serve the end customers," he said.

BenQ is also premiumising its portfolio with high-end products to take advantage of the rising purchasing power and growing Indian economy.

"That's why we come out this year with a lineup for the high-end home cinema projectors…We also launched our golf simulation projectors. This is also targeted to the very high-end segment," he said.

Liang further said that in some product categories, demand from India is quite different from other markets, for which it is providing specialised solutions.

"BenQ has taken various initiatives with regard to research on products in India. We came out with product specialised design for the Indian market," he said.

For instance, India has a lot of IT professionals and programmers who need specialised monitors, he said.

The company, he added, came out with a product specially designed for Indian programmers, helping to increase coding productivity.

BenQ, he said, is also looking at an opportunity in the education sector, where the government is converting the classroom with traditional blackboards into smart classrooms with interactive flat panels.

BenQ Group is also gearing up to tap the opportunity in the healthcare segment, where it operates with high-end precision medical electronic products.

"So this is something our company is starting...we also see demand for good monitors and projectors in hospitals. They need very good colour accuracy, contrast monitors for CT scan," he said. PTI KRH KRH SHW