The Metallica range was launched globally a few months back. In India it has been customised, with special features like 360 watt of power, keeping in mind the Indian consumer's preference for powerful sound. Other features include on-screen graphic equaliser, transparent on-screen display, five language OSD and game mode.

Says Ravinder Zutshi, vice-president, sales:``The Metallica range is a joint R&D effort of Korean and Indian engineers at the Noida R&D centre, set up in February.'' The company has invested $5 million in the centre and is working on coming out with other products completely tailored to Indian needs by the year-end.

The Metallica campaign will be kicked off with a TVC on all major channels and a print campaign in national dailies from Saturday.

The Metallica range is available in 20 and 21 inch screen sizes and priced at Rs 18,990 and Rs 21,990, respectively. The company has also extended its Plano flat TV range to include a 21 inch model.

In another strategic move, Samsung India will commence export of its 14 inch CTVs to the West European market from August 2000. It has already bagged orders for export of 60,000 TVs this year. The first consignment of 40,000 units to the UK and Spain will consist of four models of its 14 inch CTV.

At present, the parent company is exporting 1.5 million sets to the European market mostly from its Hungarian plant. In the UK, the 14 inch enjoys a 35 per cent share of the CTV market. With the capacity of the Noida manufacturing plant likely to be increased to one million by 2001, Samsung expects to become an export base for supplying CTVs to neighbouring countries as well as the European market by next year, by when it is targeting export of two lakh CTVs.

Presenting the company's half-yearly results, (January-June 2000), K S Kim, managing director, SIEL, said the company had seen a growth of 37.5 per cent in sales turnover at Rs 550 crore, against Rs 400 crore in the corresponding period last year.

In CTVs, the sales turnover was higher at Rs 319 crore against Rs 292 crore last year, with the company selling 220,000 units this year against last year's 200,000 units. In home appliances also, Samsung strengthened its position, registering sales of Rs 231 crore against Rs 108 crore last year, amounting to a growth of 114 per cent. The Bio Fresh range of fridges and microwaves were a contributory factor in upping sales in this segment, added Zutshi.

Samsung India is targeting a turnover of Rs 1,400 crore this year. In CTVs it is looking at 5,50,000 unit sales against last year's 4,10,000 units and a market share of 11 per cent in CTVs against its present nine per cent. It expects the Plano flat TV range to contribute 15 per cent to its total sales turnover.