It's good news for Indian consumers planning to buy home appliances this Diwali. Low prices and sleek new models are set to entice shoppers this season, as manufacturers have made highest-ever sales targets to cash in on the lifestyle-led boom.

Industry officials say this season prices are down by 5-8 per cent across products over last year mainly due to the rationalised duty structure and manufacturers' initiatives to support new products.

"Prices are down by almost a third for high-end products like plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions," says Girish Rao, vice-president, LG Electronics. "For rest of the product segments, prices did not go up despite input costs going up this May," he adds.

With the ownership of high value durable goods like LCD, plasma TVs and front-loading washing machines now being seen as a source of social status, especially among urban households, manufacturers are bullish on sales targets.

Samsung has jacked up its sales target by 37 per cent to Rs 860 crore for the festival season. Rival LG is targeting an overall growth of 20 per cent at Rs 2,500 crore. Last year, LG set a target of Rs 1,600 crore and ended up with a Rs 2,100 crore kitty.

Videocon has launched a nationwide marketing drive to push its sales by a quarter over last year. The company is planning to offer benefits worth Rs 100 crore to its customers in terms of free gifts with its products. "We are expecting a 35 per cent jump in sales at Rs 2,800 crore," says Videocon's joint president (sales & marketing), Sunil Mehta. "Prices have come down in high value items but an increase in input costs is eating into our margins in low-cost products," he says.

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