Consumer durables manufacturers Videocon, LG, Godrej and others are set to raise prices in September, or at the start of the festival season, to offset higher input cost including steel.
Videocon plans to raise prices by 5-10 per cent across all product categories, according to K R Kim, vice-chairman and CEO, Videocon. This will be the first price increase by the company since May, when it raised prices of all its products by 5-10 per cent.
LG India said it may also raise prices of its range of washing machines and refrigerators later this month or by September to cushion cost escalation and the weakening of the rupee. The Korean company plans to wait for other market players to take the initiative in raising prices before announcing its plans.
"Even though the company has seen a robust demand for its products, its profitability has been hurt due to spiralling input costs," said a company official.
LG last raised prices by 5-7 per cent in June across all categories such as monitors and optical storage devices.
Godrej also plans to raise prices of its washing machine, refrigerator, air-conditioner and microwave range by about 3 per cent if commodity prices such as steel, copper, aluminium and plastic deteriorate further, said Kamal Nandi, vice-president, sales and marketing.
Godrej had earlier raised prices of air-conditioners and washing machines by 3-5 per cent in June and July.
Haier India, the Chinese consumer durables manufacturer, is also likely to hike prices of washing machines and televisions by September due to increase in input costs and also the anti-dumping duty in case of the latter, according to Pranay Dhabai, director.
Haier has been raising prices of its products at regular intervals which had begun since June when it raised the prices of air-conditioners.
