How Ekkaa Helps Indian TV Brands to Take on China

· An LED TV has four major components. The LED panel (or open cell panel), motherboard, the plastic or metal structure of the TV, and the backlight.

· Ppen cell panels on a handful of international companies like LG, Samsung and China’s BOE Technology Group.

· Open cell panels constitute 65% of the cost of a TV.

In electronic products, a model is emerging that could help accelerate India’s effort to cut its dependence on China. This is one where an entity offers all services, from design to manufacturing, leaving only the sales and brand management to the entrepreneur. It could potentially create a lot of entrepreneurs, since they would have to make negligible capital investments. Last year, Times Techies wrote about Aravind Melligeri’s Aequs, which is trying this model in areas like electronic toys and consumer durables.

Sagar Gupta’s Sonipat-based Ekkaa Electronics is another. The three-and-a-half-year-old company focuses on LED TVs, and already has an annual revenue of over Rs 650 crore. Brands like Sansui, Oscar, Intex and Akai are among its customers.

“Ekkaa will design the product, control the supply chain, manufacture, and manage the labelling and packaging,” says Gupta. With the big shift to smart TVs in the past three years, Ekkaa also now handles the TV software, user interface, app integration, and the brand integration with the software.

An LED TV has four major components. The LED panel (or open cell panel), motherboard, the plastic or metal structure of the TV, and the backlight. In manufacturing, Ekkaa had to face the big challenge of acquiring the right technology and equipment. There were hardly any companies in India with an integrated plant, and those who did, had foreign collaborations.

So, Ekkaa had to learn from the Chinese. “Our big learning was to be core competent, and to focus on skills with which you can lead the industry,” Gupta says. For the past two years, Ekkaa has only hired employees who have two indispensable qualities – they must be ready to adapt to any sudden change, and they must be ready to learn any new skill that the company requires. Gupta says there are constant changes in the industry, requiring a great deal of flexibility.

A continuing challenge is the total dependence for open cell panels on a handful of international companies like LG, Samsung and China’s BOE Technology Group. Open cell panels constitute 65% of the cost of a TV. Gupta’s hoping the PLI schemes for semiconductors and display manufacturing will create local players. Ekkaa’s factory can currently manufacture 1.5 lakh TVs a month, but in a few months, a new plant with a capacity of 1 million TVs a month will be operational. That’s a scale that can rival some of the Chinese factories.