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Sever since the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, there has been a clarion call to “Make in India” for consumer electronics manufacturers. And slowly but surely, India has made ground in the last eight years. Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer, now has facilities across the country that assemble Xiaomi and Apple phones. Samsung has one of the largest factories in the world in Greater Noida. Oppo has its manufacturing facility in Greater Noida where it manufactures products for Oppo, OnePlus and Realme. There are other foreign players like Taiwanese brothers Wistron and Pegatron who also help Apple make its devices, and then there’s Dixon electronics, which makes smart TVs for the likes of Xiaomi and others. But in all this, we haven’t seen much from Indian brands.
These days we hear about audio brands like Boot and Noise. But since the days of Micromax in 2013-2014, there is one traditional brand that has given the likes of Xiaomi, Samsung, Sony, and LG a tough time. It’s Vu, a well-known television brand. But Vu is not alone. Super Plastronics Private Limited (SPPL) has become one of the flag bearers in the home electronics manufacturing space.
Roots of SPPL
SPPL, like Vu, has been around for a long time since the late 1980s with its injection molded plastic technology, which was used to manufacture CRT TVs in the 1990s and early 2000s.
It also manufactures its products locally in Noida. And when it comes to online sales, its brands – Thomson, Kodak and Blaupunkt combined – are now the second best-selling TV brand in the online market after Xiaomi.
SPPL was founded by Amarjeet Singh Marwah and is currently assisted by his son Avneet Singh Marwah from its Okhla HQ in South Delhi. SPPL used to be behind the Suntek and SVL brands – but these days they’re the brains and brawn behind Thomson, Kodak and Blaupunkt – all world-renowned brands. SPPL manufactures and promotes smart TVs across three brands across India and has become one of the best players in the value smart TV space.
“We’re about a 30-year-old company, and we started with televisions. “Back then we started by molding the plastic of an old CRT television,” says Avneet Marwah.
What is interesting is that Marwah decided to focus on iconic brands that were not known on television. He told me that he convinced Kodak executives on a trip to New York to give SPPL a license to launch TVs under the brand name.
“It took me two years to win Kodak. I went to New York, to show Kodak. So, my thought process was from a still image, we can convince consumers that they are watching a video and it is television,” explains Marwah.
He then targeted audio specialist Blaupunkt whose speakers and head units are often seen in cars. But this happened by chance as Blaupunkt had a conflict with the licensee in India. But recently, Marwah and his team have been flexing their tech chops with the introduction of Thomson which has been on the market since 2020.
Thomson was in India in the 1990s and 2000s. Updated by SPPL with Made in India TVs with Google and Dolby support. Its latest models have managed to provide the latest Google TV experience ahead of industry leader Xiaomi, which has traditionally focused on its Patchwall operating system.
Also read: 5G launch, event sales are tempting but buying a smartphone in 2022 is a bad idea.
How good are smart TVs?
I have tested Thomson models such as the Oath series and the latest QLED series of televisions. These models are positioned as a premium offering sold on Flipkart while the Kodak brand operates as a larger retail brand exclusive to e-backed retailer Walmart. The Oath series provided excellent picture quality, but these TVs had a few flaws as the interface was slow, the speakers were small, and lacked polish. But this was 2020.
Two years down the line, the QLED series is truly amazing. It has Google TV support which makes it incredibly attractive as it is the best interface you can find on a smart TV. The QLED quality is good and there are front-firing speakers while the rest of the TV has very narrow bezels, but it ensures a great balance between design, picture quality and audio quality. This has been managed despite the semiconductor crisis that has plagued electronics manufacturers.
Marwah suggests other plans to become bigger with the brands he licenses but believes he has missed the bus to create a meaningful brand of his own as Vu rules. But his ambitions may turn elsewhere. He also says that SPPL has achieved technological parity with big brands like Samsung and Xiaomi, which is helped by the sale of display technology.
ISPPL has expanded into consumer electronics and is active in the manufacture of home appliances such as washing machines which it already sells. Marwah plans to enter the home audio space but insists that Blaupunkt will not be the brand to use. He spoke in a different way.
When asked about the smartphone space, Marwah emphasized that technology wise and relationship wise, SPPL is fully equipped. But he admitted it was a very expensive business, something he had no intention of getting into. He said, however, if he has an investor, SPPL will be open to entering the space.
Sahil Mohan Gupta is a technology journalist based in Delhi. He tweets @DigitallyBones. Opinions are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)
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