Samsung Restructures Indian Operations to Boost Home Appliance Profitability

Samsung is restructuring its Indian operations to improve profitability in home appliances.

This move follows pressure from slowing smartphone demand and rising component costs. The company aims to eliminate operational layers and overlapping functions within its sales divisions. Job losses are possible as Samsung seeks to accommodate most employees in new roles. This restructuring initiative may extend to other global subsidiaries of the electronics giant.

After exiting China, Samsung has started restructuring its operations in India as the South Korean electronics giant comes under mounting pressure to make its television and home appliances businesses more profitable. This comes at a time when demand for smartphones, the single-largest contributor to Samsung's revenue, has slowed amid recurrent price increases, weighing on the company's overall profits in the country.

The restructuring is aimed at eliminating layers and overlapping functions in sales across the TV and home appliances businesses, considering both deploy the same trade channels and distribution network, said three industry executives familiar with the matter. This could result in job losses though the number of affected employees is being finalised, and Samsung is trying to accommodate most in newer roles, people said.

Executives said the company could roll out similar restructurings in some of its other large subsidiaries globally. Samsung India, the country's largest electronics company by revenue, is bearing the brunt of a sharply weaker rupee and slowing smartphone demand after repeated price increases triggered by 2-3 times rise in memory chip costs. Smartphone industry sales in India fell more than 10% year-on-year so far this calendar year.

Samsung India didn't respond to email queries. The chief executive of a rival electronics company said he has been inundated with resumes from Samsung executives, while acknowledging that matching Samsung's compensation is difficult.

Another industry executive said Samsung is under pressure to improve profitability in India and other markets as margins in its core smartphone business have come under strain following the price hikes.

Samsung said in May it would discontinue sales of some consumer electronics products in China, widely believed to include TVs and home appliances, amid intensifying competition from Chinese brands.

In the March quarter, Samsung's global profit from the TV and home appliances business fell 33% year-on-year even as overall operating profit surged more than eightfold, driven by booming demand for its chips used in AI data centres.

The company said in April it would globally "implement cost-efficiency initiatives while driving premium sales" in the TV and appliances business during the second half of 2026. To be sure, Samsung India's revenue from operations rose 12% to ₹1.11 lakh crore in FY25, while net profit jumped 38% to ₹11,286 crore. The company is yet to file its FY26 financials with the Registrar of Companies. Samsung's TV division-internally called visual display-is currently headed by Viplesh Dang, while home appliances unit or digital appliances is led by Ghufran Alam.

In India, Samsung competes with LG, Haier, Whirlpool, Xiaomi and Godrej in TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. Industry executives said it remains among the top two brands in TVs, refrigerators and washing machines.

Although all smartphone, TV and appliance brands have raised prices several times this year, Samsung's increases have been lower than most of its rivals as the company pursues an aggressive pricing strategy in India. According to data compiled by the All India Mobile Retailers Association, Samsung's cumulative price increase since last November has been up to 50%, behind Vivo's up to 73%, up to 53% for Oppo, up to 81% for Realme and up to 44% for Xiaomi.

In TVs and air-conditioners, where industry average prices have risen 15-20%, Samsung's increase has been limited to 10-14%.

"Samsung has adopted an aggressive pricing strategy in India to gain market share," said another executive. "A large part of its television and home appliance business is now driven by online sales, where pricing is significantly more competitive than other leading brands." Samsung Tuesday projected a 19-fold jump in June quarter operating profit, exceeding its combined earnings over the previous three years, fueled by memory chips.