With the country's premium segment expected to grow more that of China, India may even provide the major region of growth, the company said.

The multinational, seeking to drive ahead despite worldwide economic turmoil and the first stirrings of depression, had chosen India, China and Indonesia as the company's three major thrust operations from activities strewn around the world.

However, events in Indonesia, where popular unrest and change of government has rattled the market, have overtaken that aim, and the corporate office has decided that focus must purely be on India and China.

In India, initially, the Dutch parent has decided to introduce virtually updated global products through the consumer electronics division. The division is the first through which operational thrust is beingimplemented by Philips.

In the next six months to seven months, certain other divisions will grow into the same role that the consumer electronics division is now playing.

In India, the Philips think tank has realised that the Philips brand over the years has got Indianised. Hence the thrust on premium and super-premium segment products and the launch of the latest international range.

As part of this thrust, Philips has gone for a slew of aggressive product launches, seeking to enter the high or premium price segments where it was not involved in a major way before, and also catering to lower segments with new products.

It launched the Rs 8-lakh, massive flat screen, plasma technology-based television on Monday, with a ballpark sales target of around 100 sets for the first year. The company also launched a 25-inch television with new add-on features, as well as a new 29-inch large television similar to those produced by rivals like Sony, BPL and Toshiba.

"Philips India has been receiving tremendousattention at our headquarters in Netherlands, and India and China have been chosen as the focus areas for Philips in the coming years," Philips director and vice-president Ravi Kant told journalists while launching the new television models in Mumbai on Tuesday.

"The thrust on India has been kicked off with the consumer electronics division, and over the next few months it will be clearer as to how Philips will implement this special thrust," he said.

On the same day its rival the Bangalore-based BPL issued releases announcing the launch of similar digitalised range of consumer electronics products, presaging what may be a serious marketing battle despite perceptions of a economic slowdown.

What is interesting is in the television market is that while China already accounts for over 50 per cent of large-screen 25-inch-plus television sets, in India, the growth of the premium market with higher-end features is just beginning. It is therefore expected that growth rates in the high margin segments in Indiawill show higher growth than in China."