The Big 'View'

Devita broke away from the family business a decade back, to start her own venture Vu Televisions. She hasn’t had to look back since, with Vu vying for market share with the likes of Sony and Samsung. Manisha Choudhari | March 2016 Issue | The Dollar Business

Devita Saraf, CEO & Design Head, Vu Televisions

Spirited and spunky, Devita Saraf needs no introduction. Having been eager to start working since she was only a child, Devita became Director of Marketing at Zenith Computers at the age of 21, and started her own company, Vu Televisions, at 24. She is an exemplary role model for those who want to start, run, and grow their own business. It is rather unique to see the CEO of a company become the face of it too, but Devita does it with unmatched confidence, grace, and élan.

During an interaction with The Dollar Business, she mentioned that Vu intends to occupy at least 15% of the 50 inch+ size category televisions market, and by the looks of it, Vu is already on its way to achieve this goal. Calling Vu the “ultimate television indulgence,” Devita aims to bring worldclass luxury televisions at an affordable price to everyone’s living rooms.

TDB: What has your journey with Vu been like?

Devita Saraf (DS): I think it’s been a personal journey of being a business leader. I am proud to share that within 10 years of starting it in 2006, we are aiming at a turnover of Rs.500 crore.

TDB: In the domestic market, how do you view your competition?

DS: Our competitors are brands such as Sony and Samsung.

TDB: What parts of the TV do you import? And from where?

DS: We import completely built units (CBUs) from China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. We have an assembly plant here but we have not ventured into manufacturing yet. It costs a seller less to import a TV than to manufacture it in India. For manufacturing excellence, we need an ecosystem. In case of electronics, if you take the case of Shenzhen and Guangdōng in China or Hsinchu in Taiwan, what happens is that if I have a factory for TVs, whether I want to buy plastics or panels or semiconductor chips, the purchase and procurement point is just two kilometres away. You cannot set up a manufacturing plant for a high-tech good in a silo. The big concern is that our country is already so far behind in this respect, the only asset we can offer is labour. And labour for making high-end products is definitely more skilled and relatively hard to find.