Panasonic plans to invest ₹240 crore till 2021 to leverage its India innovation center to develop new IoT products and AI-based solutions.
Panasonic is eyeing diversifying its Internet of Things (IoT) product portfolio in the mobility space with the addition of new products like location trackers while continuing it focus on creating a complete IoT product ecosystem, including mobile handsets.
The Japanese electronics company plans to invest ₹240 crore till 2021 to leverage its newly setup India innovation center in Bangalore for development of new IoT products and solutions based on Artificial intelligence (AI).
It is said that a part of this investment will be utilized for solutions of mobile phones, like Arbo.
The company is reportedly planning to use the handset as the hub along with the Arbo platform to build an ecosystem of various connected products.
However, the connected product strategy may take another 2-3 three years to take shape in India.
Panasonic’s operations in India and its future plan
Panasonic’s operations are organized into consumer devices and solutions; Connected Solutions (which focuses on B2B and IoT technology), energy efficiency product unit Eco Solutions, and automotive and industrial systems.
Manish Sharma, president and CEO, Panasonic India and South Asia, said that majority 77% of the company’s revenues in India come from consumer-oriented business. The handset business contributes about 10% towards the total revenue of consumer appliances, he added.
The company is now aiming to work with developers and enter into partnerships with technology companies to build AI-specific solutions and IoT products in India.
Last month, Panasonic launched two new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled smartphones – Eluga Z1 and Z1 Pro at Rs 14,490 and Rs 17,490 respectively.
The new devices, equipped ARBO Hub, provide users access to multiple apps and services on a single platform and uses AI and Machine Learning to make recommendations.
Panasonic set up an India Innovation Center in Gurgaon last April and later opened a development base in Bangalore. It’s Innovation hub -The Centre of Excellence (Coe), aims to develop Panasonic’s transformative solutions in five key domains – Connected Home/ Community, Mobility, Energy, Industrial and Finance Solutions.
