Launch products in the Asian market/indian market

I'm wondering why it takes so long for the companies to launch products in the Asian market/indian market. In countries like the US and UK, people are about to get Panasonic DMP-BD35 model and we are still waiting for the Panasonic DMP-BD30. and same is the case with sony BDP-S350.It may be the case with other categories also.

I don't know about other countries in Asia, but in India there are a number of issues:

1. Any product that is to be sold in India by a foreign company needs government approvals.

2. The volumes you can expect to sell in India is much smaller compared to advanced countries, so most items are bought in fully assembled or as CKD or SKD.

3. Servicing is an issue as many coimpanies have not yet set up full fledged operations in the country. Companies will hesitate to introduce products without service backup to maintain their reputation.

4. The costs when you bring in as CKD or SKD is always higher than the comparative market price elsewhere.

Companies such as LG and Samsung have taken the route of full fledged operations including manufacture in India. This needs large investment and commitment. Companies hesitate to do this unless their market survey tells them otherwise.

I think in countries such as Singapore or Malaysia products are released at the same time as elsewhere as these countries have free trade. India is not yet a fully free trading country. When that happens, you can buy anything you want when it is released in the world market.

Cheers

Buddy...

Agree with Venkat...

There are three major issues...
1). Government Rules
2). Customs Duty - In India any consumer electronics product, levies a duty of 40% inclusive all, on top of that lies the freight from these countries to India. One would be surprised but when a product is being exported from US or UK, the charges are much lower comparable to what charges are being levied while importing. After all these lies our VAT @ 12.5%.
3). Margins : On all new products the margins on products from US are seriously very low. For some reasons i cannot open the percentage, but its very low. Its that low, that if the person brings the products to India, the Customs Duty, Freight & VAT makes the price atleast 20% higher than the US MRP, then they need to add there margins, service, transport, etc... and the price ends up almost double the price...
Yes but in case of UK products the price level doesnt go beyond 1.6 times of the UK MRP...

So, all these playsa huge role in delaying the imports of a newly launched products...

And on top of that comes the quantity...thts too poor...