South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung says it is looking to up its game in the Indian washing machine market, especially in the tech-driven and large-capacity front-loading category.

“We now have a 20% market share in the overall washing machine market in the country. In the front loading category, we command a 31% market share and the target is to increase this share to 50% in the next couple of quarters,” Saurabh Baishakhia, Sr. Director, Digital Appliances Business, Samsung India, told The Hindu.

According to Mr. Baishakhia, about 10 million washing machines, worth $2.4 billion, are sold in India in a year, of which 35% are front-loading machines, a segment that is growing at 40% annually, primarily driven by 9 kg and above capacity machines.

“In many products, including home theatres, refrigerators, air conditioners, microwaves, etc., we are already doing well in the market. Washing machines is one category where we still need to up our game in India. We are targeting a 4X growth in the sales of front loading washing machines this year,’‘ he said.

He also said when the overall washing machine industry was growing at mid single-digit, the company was targeting a much speedier growth.

‘”More and more households are aspiring to have front-loading washing machines. South is a large market with Karnataka growing at a faster pace,” he said further.

Large capacity buying was the prominent trend seen in the replacement market, he added. “The aspiration is to buy everything large sized these days, especially after the pandemic. Be it large TV sets, large refrigerators, big cars, large homes and also large washing machines. Consumers are buying today factoring their future needs and lifestyle as well,” Mr. Baishakhia observed.