Interaction with Mr Arjun Bajaj – CEO and Founder of Daiwa

Daiwa aims to offer Right Quality Products at the Right Time &a Right Price in India under the umbrella of Videotex International Pvt. Ltd. that has over 34 years of experience in the TV industry. As per the company, it is a brand for the Indian consumers while having its manufacturing unit in Greater Noida, Ludhiana and Himachal
Pradesh, Daiwa has designed its varied product range suiting the needs and dynamic lifestyle of the audience. The company has a research centre in Shenzhen, China and manufacturing unit in India.

Well, to comprehend the company’s ideology, strategy and upcoming plans, recently we had an interaction with Mr Arjun Bajaj – CEO and Founder of Daiwa. Here is what we got to know…

Mr Arjun Bajaj has begun his entrepreneurial journey with Daiwa in 2016. (From the house of Videotex India which has been in the industry for over 34 years) At Daiwa, he is largely responsible for leading the company’s expansion into India. With his education from the University of Essex, UK (Business Management) and a short stint with Samsung India, Arjun aims to bring strategic technologies to forge new market trends and set new standards for excellence in India.

What is the thing that inspires you to enter such a competitive market?

Well, seeing my father build his business empire- “Videotex” which is steady and strong for the past 35 years has been the most inspiring thing in my life. I have always followed his formula ‘Don’t follow success, rather let success follow you’. I have acquired his learnings, which today has helped me to stand on my own. My father has been the inspiration throughout my life.

What are the challenges and difficulties facing by the Daiwa to become a successful brand?

Even though Daiwa is backed by 35 years old parent company Videotex. The journey has not been smooth sailing, rather has its own share of challenges. In the initial days, it had a One-man Army functioning start-up. Right from the cataloguing to designs to order processing to dispatches and after-sales service everything was managed by me. With hardship and faith, Daiwa today has a strong team of over 100 + people, who are functioning the brand. The other aspect being, the brand faced a lot of resistance from the market in spite of being the best in quality and price, it was very difficult to move the scale, since it was very unknown to the end-user. And over the period of time, our products drove the strong word of mouth and, Daiwa as a brand saw acceptance in the Indian Markets.

What different is Daiwa doing as compared to the other Indian TV brands?

Daiwa has always focused on building the best technology at most the affordable prices, exclusive for the Indian market. In terms of uniqueness, its two-fold, balancing both the product and services. Among products, we have brought several new technologies in India which include Wide Color Gamut to Pictures, Tailoring the speakers as per the Indian needs, Unique remote with direct app keys and keyboard with easy surf on Smart TVs, balancing voltage fluctuations for TV as per Indian power conditions etc. and now we are the first Indian brand to have made a custom-designed UI for our Smart TVs. Our goal always has been to go an extra mile in terms of final delivery for the consumers. We don’t want to follow the stereotyped industry pattern. Our main objective is to break the myth that the best products only come at a hefty price. Also, we tailor solutions as per the Indian audience, unlike brands that simply import the solutions to India.

Daiwa is already in LED TV and Washing machine, any further product expansion plans?

Yes, we are planning to enter other product categories as well in the next Fiscal year for Daiwa along with many new models in Smart TVs and washing machines.

How well Daiwa is performing in Tier II and Tier III cities?

India is poisoned to become the third-largest consumer market. The rising purchasing power in Tier I and Tier II are not only promising but also untapped markets.  And when it comes to these new markets, Daiwa is steadily moving ahead and is creating a name for itself. The cities are the new face of India, a new wave of India. For Daiwa, we have opted this route from beginning with a strong presence in north India offline market which includes Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, West of Maharashtra (Nagpur etc) and upcountry cities in these states. Overall we are expanding our base month on month and have received strong acceptance supported with quality and after-sales services specially in these Tier II and Tier III cities.

Would you like to share some sales numbers with us?

All we can say so far is that our numbers are increasing month by month and we have managed to grow 8 times in just a short span of 3 years.

Daiwa prices are affordable, how does the company manage the quality at a budget price?

All this has been possible with the help of Videotex Experience of 35 years and our R&D where we have managed to use the best components and parts. Also, by having a complete backward integration setup to manufacture LED TV’s help us a lot to cut down our cost and deliver high-quality products as we are making the cabinets, PCB’s, Panels and Complete TV in the house.

Dedicated Research centre of Daiwa is in Shenzhen (China), why not in India?

Though India is moving towards ‘Make in India’ a lot of material is still strongly supported by China only such as components, led bars etc, where the Chinese Brands have a strong foothold. We work there to design the components used in the TV for the India market with our team as China has more resources, and currently, India is moving towards it. However, we also now have our R&D in India in our Greater Noida plant.

Currently, what are the customer base and focus verticals of Daiwa in India?

Our Target market is typically today’s youth. To be precise the age group of 18-35 years who are looking for value for money products with high quality. Our focus lies on providing high-quality Smart TV’s and washing machines and continuously improving our products through innovative features and technology. We are also focusing on expanding our sales network in other parts of the country to reach out to a larger consumer base.