Samsung to expand presence in SAARC bloc

Writankar Mukherjee, Kolkata
The Economic Times

Korean consumer electronics biggie Samsung is expanding the scope of its South West Asian (SWA) regional headquarters based out of India. Apart from reinforcing its presence in the SAARC bloc, which is under SWA, Samsung plans to use its Indian manufacturing and R&D facilities to supply localised products in these markets.

For starters, Samsung has just set up a new branch office in Bangladesh under the purview of SWA. The other countries that are part of this division include India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives. The company has plans to expand into other territories under the purview of this regional headquarters.

Samsung South West Asia president & CEO J S Shin said setting up of the new branch office in Bangladesh would enable the company to understand and respond better to market needs. "With this, we will be able to consolidate our business across various verticals in Bangladesh. The Indian organisation will provide support for this," he said.

As per plans, Samsung plans to use its manufacturing and research units in India to service the markets, which fall under the SWA division. "While we are already exporting products from India to these markets, as these markets evolve further, we plan to tap the Indian manufacturing and R&D set-up in a bigger way to support such plans," said Shin.

Located in Delhi, Samsung SWA HQ is one of the company’s global regional divisions. The HQ was created to provide greater focus on the Indian market and grow presence in other neighbouring territories with support from the Indian subsidiary.

Samsung also plans to strengthen its portfolio by rolling out several new products this year. "This includes large format display devices for signage purpose, a new range of digital still cameras and camcorders, LCD monitors, new range of MP3 players, advanced range of touch screen mobiles as well as printing and display solutions for B2B markets," said Shin.