Videocon Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The company was founded in 1979, by Venugopal Dhoot. The group had 17 manufacturing sites in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and plants in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It was the third largest picture tube manufacturer in the world valued at 5.5 billion. The company stopped trading and entered corporate insolvency proceeding in June 2018. In June 2021, NCLT approved Vedanta Group's bid to take over Videocon, paving the way for the new ownership.

Early years

In 1985,

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

based Nandlal Madhavlal Dhoot founded and incorporated Videocon International with a goal of manufacturing 1

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

TV sets per year. "''Videocon became the first company to bring colour TVs in India''," claims Anirudh Dhoot, the founder's grandson ( Venugopal Dhoot's son) and Videocon's current director.

Corporate profile

The Videocon group's core areas of business are

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

and

home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

s. They diversified into areas such as DTH,

power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

and oil exploration.

Consumer electronics

In India, the group sold consumer products like colour televisions,

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...

air conditioners Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

s and many other home appliances, through a multi-brand strategy with the largest sales and service network in India. Since the entry of Korean Chaebols and their rising popularity in the Indian market, Videocon from a stand-point of market leader has seen a slow decline to become a no. 3 player in India. The company continued to do well in the washing machine and refrigerator segment.

Mobile phones

In November 2009, Videocon launched its new line of mobile phones. Videocon has since launched a number of handsets ranging from basic colour FM phones to high-end Android devices. In February 2011, Videocon Mobile Phones launched the hitherto unknown concept of 'Zero' paise (1

paisa Paisa (also transliterated as ''pice'', ''pesa'', ''poysha'', ''poisha'' and ''baisa'') is a monetary unit in several countries. The word is also a generalised idiom for money and wealth. In India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the ''paisa'' currently equa ...

is the 100th unit of 1

Indian rupee The Indian rupee (symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (Hindi plural; singular: ''paisa''). The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve ...

) per second with bundled SIM cards of Videocon mobile services for 7 of its handset models. In July 2015, Videocon Mobiles launched its own flagship smartphone Videocon Infinium Z51+ in India. On 7 June 2016, Videocon Mobile launched its new smartphone 'Videocon Cube3 V50290' in India. Videocon Petroleum had 25% stake in

Ravva oil field The Ravva oil field in the Krishna Godavari Basin is located in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Ownership The field is operated by Cairn India with a 22.5% share. Its partners in the field are the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) with a 40% shar ...

which is operated by Cairn India in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Acquisition of CPT arm of Thomson SA

Videocon acquired the colour picture tube (CPT) businesses from

Thomson S.A. Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

of France having manufacturing facilities in Poland, Italy, Mexico and China along with support research and development facilities in the fiscal year 2005.

Decline

In 2018, following losses in its oil businesses, the company entered insolvency proceedings.

Controversy with ICICI loan fraud

On 4 October 2018, Chanda Kochhar, the ex MD and CEO of

ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian multinational bank and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai with a registered office in Vadodara. It offers a wide range of banking and financial services for corporate and retail customers throu ...

had to step down from her position following allegations of corruption in sanctioning loans to Videocon. Amidst investigations related to Videocon bad loans, she was forced by the board of

to take indefinite leave. The

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

named Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar as beneficiaries in the financial fraud between June 2009 and October 2011. Venugopal Dhoot, the promoter of Videocon had fraudulently transferred part of the loan received from ICICI Bank to the Kochhars' business entreprise after Chanda Kochhar, Sandeep Bakhshi became the full time managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank.

References

External links

Official website
* videocon d2h special offers https://www.d2h.com/recharge/recharge-details-chatbot?customerid=196534943&amount=323&packageid=0&offer{{Electronics industry in India 01 Electronics companies of India Internet service providers of India Mobile phone companies of India Mobile phone manufacturers Mass media companies based in Delhi Economy of Aurangabad, Maharashtra Indian companies established in 1979 Mass media companies established in 1979 Telecommunications companies established in 1979 Indian brands Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Home appliance manufacturers of India