Before Kazuo Hirai took charge as the chief executive officer at Sony Corp in April with the single point agenda of reviving the ailing consumer electronics giant, one of the first senior colleagues he met was Masaru Tamagawa, chief of Sony’s Indian operations, says an Economic Times report.
India, one of the rare global markets where Sony is leading the market in large flat televisions and digital cameras, will also be one of the first countries Hirai plans to visit as Sony CEO because Sony India is a vital element in the company’s turnaround plans.
“India is becoming one of the most important market for Sony globally, is highly profitable and has potential to figure amongst the largest markets in three years,” says Tamagawa who has helped the brand triple its Indian revenues since he took charge as the managing director five years back.
Sony India now directly reports to the headquarters in Tokyo and not to Singapore, the Asia-Pacific hub-an honour enjoyed by select geographies such as the US, China and Russia.
Such is the upbeat mood in India that despite Sony estimating annual net loss of $6.4 billion for the past financial year and announcing plans to cut nearly 10,000 jobs globally, Sony India last week said it will hire 500 people this financial year.
As per company estimates, India will join the league of top five markets for the Japanese giant by 2015, sharing space with US, Japan and China. At present, Sony India figures amongst the top ten markets and contributes 5 per cent to global revenues.
In fact, Sony India in 2010-11 touched a turnover of more than $1 billion and won the best performing subsidiary award from the parent. The company is yet to announce its results for 2011-12.
“Sony commits to reach another milestone of $2 billion mark by FY14,” says Tamagawa.
