India, the world's second most populous nation, is showing "remarkable interest" in buying new TV sets, said analyst iSuppli, but the more expensive flatscreen HD/SD varieties are not a major part of the equation quite yet. The main reason, said iSuppli, is that despite a growing outsourcing industry, nearly three-quarters of Indian wage earners still receive less than $5,000 annually.
Yet flatscreen models are selling better than ever, relatively speaking. Pushing the current TV buying trend is increased awareness, coupled with better availability, reports the Times of India.
While some HD is slowly rolling out across parts of India, mainly in the urban centers like New Delhi, iSuppli says many young Indian consumers pick a regular 21-inch or smaller CRT unit as their first TV purchase.
The study predicts the Indian market will grow to 18.7 million units by 2011, from 12.1 million units in 2006. That's still rather miniscule, considering India's current population of 1.1 billion.
