Several leading television manufacturers have either increased or plan to increase prices of colour TV sets following the government's decision to impose anti-dumping duty on picture tubes imported from countries like China, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

LG Electronics has raised prices of its colour televisions by about four per cent from August 1, making a Rs 10,000 TV cost Rs 400 more, said Amitabh Tiwari, group business head at LG Electronics India Limited. Samsung India is likely to announce a two to three per cent increase in its TV prices this week, said Ravinder Zutshi, deputy managing director, Samsung India.

Haier India, the local arm of Chinese electronics giant Haier, has raised also its prices by 6 to 8 per cent effective from August 1.

“Our margins are getting thinner and it is not possible for us to absorb the increasing cost,” said Pranay Dhabhai, whole time director and chief operating officer at Haier Appliances India.

Picture tube accounts for nearlly 45 per cent of what a TV costs and market leaders like LG and Samsung source most of their picture tubes from these four countries.

On July 24, the government imposed anti-dumping duties on picture tubes ranging from Rs 878 to Rs 4,369 depending on the size and the country from where these were imported.

Anti-dumping duty is imposed when a product is exported to India at less than its regular price, hurting domestic manufacturers in the process.

While the government's decision has forced companies like LG adn Samsung to increase TV prices, smaller manufacturers like Salora and T-Series have been hit hard by a squeeze in their profit margins.

Some players see this move sounding the death-bugle for colour TVs.

“LCD TV prices are coming down and this would hasten the death of colour TVs,” said Tiwari at LG.