CORPORATE NEWS

Consumers to spend $1 trillion on electronics in 2012

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) of USA expects the global spending on electronics to slow down this year but still cross the $1 trillion mark.

CEA expects smartphones to drive the industry sales this year, as these did last year. The association also expects tablet computers to help boost global sales. The purchases in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil should also contribute to the industry sales this year.

Smartphone and tablet sales, however, will slow down—not because of the slowdown in demand but as against their fast growth last year.

Fewer TV purchases this year

According to an Accenture survey, consumers intend to buy fewer televisions this year and fewer are regularly watching content on them.

The survey highlighted that consumers are rapidly turning to other consumer electronics devices such as smartphones and tablet computers to view media, while also using more online services and downloading applications for various purposes, including entertainment.

The survey found that the number of consumers watching broadcast or cable TV in a typical week on televisions fell from 71 per cent in 2009 to 48 per cent in 2011. Consistent with this, the percentage of consumers who intend to buy a TV set during the next year declined from 35 per cent in 2010 to 32 per cent in 2011.

Solar sector report card

After monitoring the solar sector funding and merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions for 2011, Mercom Capital Group has announced the fourth-quarter and annual report for solar. According to the report, India received $95 million in venture capital (VC) funding and over $1.1 billion in large-scale project funding in 2011.

Among Indian companies, solar project developer Kiran Energy raised $30 million in Series A funding and $50 million in Series B funding, followed by Birla Surya with $15 million. The top large-scale project funding deal in India was the $694-million loan raised by Maharashtra State Power Generation Company for its 150-megawatt Dhule project ($338 million) and 125-megawat Sakri project ($356 million) solar power plants by KFW Group.

Indian job market to boom this year

In stark contrast to the fears of economic slowdown hurting the country,