LG Tweaks Top Deck To Increase growth

The country’s largest white goods maker LG India has rejigged its senior management team and tweaked its sales structure in a bid to boost sales by more than 20% next year.

The Korean major has dismantled the earlier sales structure where the country was divided into two territories with two separate sales heads, and appointed Sanjeev Agarwal, who was earlier heading sales for south and west, as its national sales head, the executives said.

Rajeev Jain, who was heading LG’s sales for north and east, now heads modern retail, brand shops and sell out, drawing up strategies to ensure last mile sale to consumers, they said.

LG has also roped in former Samsung India deputy managing director Ravinder Zutshi as senior director of its enterprise products business, including commercial air conditioners, B2B products and IT products, they said. Zutshi, who retired from Samsung in 2014, was working as a consultant with LG for its enterprise business since last year.

Rahul Tayal, who was heading brand stores, modern trade and online sales, is now overall head of marketing and online sales. Amit Gujral, head of corporate marketing, will report to Tayal.

LG India has also created a task force for business improvement. The team, comprising of senior managers such as Niladri Dutta, Ranjit Kumar and Ashutosh Pant, will monitor performance of the 50 branch offices and 14 regions of the company and help strengthen territories where its performance is weak, the executives said.

Surinder Sachdeva, who was regional manager for Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, is made the zonal head for Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, while P Sudheer, who was the regional manager for Tamil Nadu and Kerala, has been made the zonal head for South.

Maulesh Chhaya, who was regional manager for Gujarat, is now zonal head for Gujarat, Maharashtra and Mumbai. LG India’s 2016-17 sales grew by 11% at Rs 16,132.3 crore despite the effect of demonetisation, which had impacted white goods sales with industry growth rate slipping to 4-5%.

LG is the market leader in home appliances like refrigerator, washing machine and microwave oven. It is the second largest brand in LED television and air conditioners after Samsung and Voltas, respectively.