Mirc Electronics Ltd, the makers of Onida and IGO brand electronics products, has roped in LG Electronics' director home appliances Yasho V Verma as CEO while naming its existing chief executive and long-timer with the group G Sundar as director strategy.
Verma, who has over three decades of experience, is expected to revamp Onida, one of the top home-grown electronics brands which has been facing tough competition as LG and Samsung pumped up their India business over the past decade.
Onida diversified its product basket from primarily TV to appliances and later even mobile handsets and while it has managed to survive even as some other big electronics brands like BPL collapsed, it has been struggling to grow. Mirc saw its total revenues decline from Rs 1,942 crore in FY11 to Rs 1,305 crore in FY13; it posted net loss of Rs 31 crore compared with profit of Rs 29 crore.
Verma was one of the long-timers at LG and previously moved from being a head of human resources to an operational role, including sales and marketing at the top consumer durable maker in the country. While LG remains strong in its appliances and other consumer electronics categories, arch rival Samsung has stolen a march given its success in pushing a high growth category like mobile handsets, a segment LG where always struggled to make a mark.
Verma started his career with Tata Steel in Jamshedpur where he worked for around 15 years. He then worked with LG Electronics for over 16 years; he was part of the LG team which set up operations in the country in 1997.
Verma is taking up the baton from Sundar who had joined Onida way back in 1985 as the head of finance. Sundar later became COO and then CEO. As director strategy, he will be focusing on strategy and financing of new businesses.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
