The proposed 70:30 joint venture with Videocon will also mark Akai's entry into the washing machine segment already teeming with multinational presence, as well as the growing digital video disc (DVD) segment, identified as a focal growth area by every industry player.

In contrast, the arrangement with Baron, which was instrumental in making the Akai brand the fastest growing in India, was restricted to marketing just colour televisions (CTVs) and audio systems.

Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of the Videocon group, confirmed that the venture, christened Akai India, will manufacture and market the Akai brand of CTVs, audio systems, washing machines andDVDs.

In two years of existence in India, and aided by unheard-of exchange schemes, Akai had notched up a 12.8 per cent market share in CTVs and a 7 per cent share in audio products, in the process eating into the shares of all other domestic and multinational consumer electronics companies including that of Videocon International.

Videocon's market share, on the other hand, has been declining gradually since 1995 to around 19.4 per cent in CTVs and 16 per cent in audio systems. Videocon's installed annual capacity in CTVs is 1.2 million sets and 1.6 million in audio products. It has also announced plans to double CTV capacity by 2001.

The likely problem with Videocon now, point out rival companies, is one of plenty. The group will now have to market three brands--Kenwood, Toshiba and Sansui--apart from the Videocon brand and Akai's.

While Videocon has an extensive retail reach, a five-brand distribution network may be too much that a company can handle, they say.

The company has already begun totake care of the problem by transferring the Kenstar brand of appliances and the Sansui brand to Kitchen Appliances, a group company.