BANGALORE: Chinese manufacturer of high end digital consumer electronics products Shinco, announced partnering with Future Techno Designs (FTD), India (a group company of FTD Technology, Singapore) to bring their products to the Indian market.

The new entity FTD Shinco Consumer Products Pvt Ltd will initially be involved in the sales, marketing and support of Shinco's products in India. Subsequently other value added activities will also be carried out by FTD Shinco.

FTD Group, Singapore CEO P Bala says, "India is one of the fastest growing consumer electronics and equipment markets in the world. To start with, we plan to establish our footprint in the metros and major cities across the country and carve a niche in the high end digital consumer electronics products segment. We also plan to do design, localization and manufacturing in India at a later date."

A slew of wide-screen high-multi-media LCD TVs and Home Personal DVDs are being launched by FTD Shinco at attractive price points offering the best value for money in the high end segment. Subsequently, other niche products such as GPS navigation systems, automotive electronics equipment and personal digital entertainment systems will be added to its portfolio of products, states an official release.

At present Shinco plan to target the high network individuals. An newsprint and events campaign at an ad spend of Rs.50 to 60 million for 2006-07 by Bangalore based Graphic Art Industries - the agency that will handle both the media and the creative business is on the cards.

Shinco have targeted around Rs 200 million turnover in fiscal 2006-07 and plan to ramp it up to Rs 500-600 million plus on the back of their projections of demand for DVD and VCD players going up from 5.7 million pieces (till December 2005) to 7 million in 2006-7 and the downward trend of pricing with growth in volumes and improvement in technology. TVC as a part of the campaign for the next fiscal (2007-08) are being considered.

Depending upon the demand, FTD may set up a DVD assembly plant in India and and cater to OEM's requirements based in or out of India over the next 24 months. Currently, Shinco China is an OEM for global brand names such as Toshiba (who own a stake in FTD Singapore), Philips RCA, etc. Under the Sinco brand name they have sold around 100,000 pieces of players in Singapore and claim to be placed third in China.