LG India eyes US exports as tariff cuts open doors

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LG Electronics is going to start exports of premium home appliances to the US and Europe betting on the bilateral trade agreements and reduction in US tariffs. This includes products which are specifically developed in India such as side-by-side and large capacity top freezer refrigerators made in its Pune plant with plans to double export contribution to 14% of sales next fiscal, senior executives told ET.

At present, LG is exporting only entry and mid segment products to Africa, Middle East and other Asian markets. The exports to US and Europe will be widened with more products once LG’s upcoming factory in Sri City starts operation around October.

“The rationalization of US tariffs will further help accelerate our commitment to make India global, as we optimize production to serve both domestic needs and expand exports. Our third manufacturing plant, on track to being operational by end of year, will accelerate our plans,” said Hong Ju Jeon, managing director and chief sales and marketing officer at LG Electronics India.

LG India’s director and co-chief of sales and marketing Sanjay Chitkara said the reduced tariff and trade agreements will open up new export opportunities as our production cost is quite competitive with other global production hubs. “India has become a natural choice,” he said.

The company on Wednesday also reported a 61.5% year-on-year (yoy) drop in net profit at Rs 89.67 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2025, while revenue from operation declined by 6.4% yoy at Rs 4,114.39 crore.

LG India management attributed the fall in sales to a smaller festive window in the quarter under review with part of the sales happening in the September quarter, reduction in trade billing for AC and refrigerator to correct trade inventory with high unsold stock from last year summer when sales were extremely bleak. The profit was impacted due to lower sales, rupee depreciation, increase in raw material cost, high e-waste and fixed cost.

“The third quarter is a smaller quarter for us accounting for 16-17% of total sales. However, the ongoing fourth quarter has started on a positive note with high double digit growth in sell-out (sales to final consumer) and we are hopeful to recover the shortfall in sales during the first nine months of the fiscal,” said LG India’s chief accounting officer Atul Khanna.

Chitkara said the company has gained market share marginally in refrigerator, AC and television last quarter.

LG has also increased prices of new range of ACs by 7-10% depending on star rating due to increase in production cost with new and tightened energy star rating norms. For other products like televisions, which are facing huge headwinds from high memory prices, the company is assessing the impact.

The company has also re-entered the fixed speed AC segment this year after initially exiting in 2017 considering the segment still accounts for 12% of the overall market. It has launched a new entry level AC model with 0.9 tonne capacity while expanding the French door refrigerator and AI washing machine range.