Videocon Industries Limited is an Indian multinational

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

, headquartered in Mumbai. The group had 17 manufacturing sites in India and plants in Mainland China, Poland, Italy and Mexico. 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 The National Company Law Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body in India that adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies. The tribunal was established under the Companies Act 2013 and was constituted on 1 June 2016 by the government of India an ...

approved Vedanta Group's bid to take over Videocon, paving way for the new ownership.

Early years

In 1985, Aurangabad 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. For ex ...

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 and home appliances. They diversified into areas such as DTH, power and oil exploration.

Consumer electronics

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

air conditioners Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

s, microwave ovens 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) 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% stake. Its partners in the field are ONGC (40%), Videocon Petroleum (25%) and Ravva Oil (12.5% ...

which is operated by

Cairn India Cairn India was an Indian oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in Gurgaon, India. The company was merged with Vedanta Limited. History In early 1999, Cairn made the first Rajasthan discovery – Guda field, followed ...

in Andhra Pradesh.

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, and Thomson Multimedia, is a French multinational corporation that provides creative services and technology products for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Vantiva's headq ...

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 Chanda Kochhar ( Advani, born 17 November 1961) is the former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank. Due to a case of conflict of interest, she resigned from her position in 2018. Subsequently, she was fired by I ...

, the ex MD and CEO of ICICI Bank 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 ICICI Bank to take indefinite leave. The

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier 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 governmen ...

named Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar as beneficiaries in the financial fraud.

Venugopal Dhoot Venugopal Dhoot (born in Mumbai, India) is an Indian businessman. According to ''Forbes'' magazine, his wealth in 2015 was $1.19 billion, the 61st richest person in India. He is the founder, chairman and managing director of Videocon. Controver ...

, 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