The entertainment electronics industry in India is going through a dynamic change and the Indian consumer is a direct recipient of this. change. Curved is out and Slim is in—be it in digital still cameras, digital camcorders, digital audio players or digital televisions.

Let me start by talking about the category that is showing an exponential growth in the Indian market and is fast becoming the new face of the television market worldwide—the LCD. According to available industry figures, the Global LCD market, which was around 42 million units in the year 2006, is estimated to grow by over 50 percent this year to touch around 65 million units. In fact, it is estimated to cross the 100 million mark by the year 2009. The burgeoning LCD sales can be attributed to the growing cost efficiencies in LCD panels enhancing the cost competitiveness, the technology advancement in this sector and the benefits of this technology that are being communicated to customers. All of these are, in turn, serving to fuel the consumer interest in this category.

The LCD market in India has kept pace with worldwide trends. This sector, which was around 1.4 lac units last year, is estimated to grow to 4 lac units this year. One reason for its popularity is the constant product innovation. For instance, not only are manufacturers offering full LCD range available in different screen sizes (20, 26, 32, 37, 40, 46, 52 inches), but are also seeking to provide consumers with the Full HD experience, such as the Mosel Blaque series from Samsung. The 1920X1080p Full HD display of the Mosel Blaque gives 1.5 times more scanning lines than conventional HD, more detail, depth and clarity of images, with a 15000:1 Dynamic Contrast ratio. The Bordeau Art series, on the other hand, represents a design innovation in the LCD category.

Another noticeable shift in the Indian LCD market is the increasing customer preference for larger screen-sized LCD TVs. The 32-inch television is the most popular LCD TV screen size in the Indian market. Also, it's all about more and more user convenience, which is why we are seeing now LCD TVs with three HDMI features, home theatres with USB plug-and-play and the like.

Design is one of the important factors influencing purchase decision, along with the multi-functionality of the product. Thus, to sum it up, innovation, whether in form or functionality, is what is driving consumer preference, not only in India but worldwide.