Netherland’s Royal Philips will transfer the India rights of its television brand to Hong Kong’s $9.6-billion TPV Technology after its erstwhile India partner Videocon, weighed down by debts, failed to pay royalty for the brand, two senior industry executives said to ET.
The executives said TPV Technology already had the global rights for the Philips television business for the past seven years except the Indian market, where it was with Videocon. TPV plans to relaunch Philips first in Indian e-commerce marketplaces and then to brick-and-mortar chains and will hire Philips TV team from Videocon, they said.
Debt ridden Videocon was unable to sustain production of several brands due to working capital crisis and consequently the Philips television range had almost vanished from the market in last few months. Videocon used to sell the Philips and Electrolux range through a separate company, PE Electronics.
Lenders, led by the State Bank of India, recently filed insolvency petitions at the National Company Law Tribunal against more than a dozen Videocon group companies that cumulatively owe about Rs 13,000 crore. However, no decision has been taken about Electrolux yet.
