MUMBAI: After a lackluster year which saw sluggish growth, international musical instrument (MI) manufacturer and brand, Yamaha Music, is set to increase its penetration in the Indian MI market worth Rs 1,000 crores approximately. The company, which entered the market in 2008 will invest Rs 10 crores in setting up new music squares, adding seven new nationwide dealerships to its existing 30 outlets and introducing music curriculum in international schools.

Talking about the year with Radioandmusic.com, Yamaha Music (India) deputy manager - regional management (West & East) Tarun Sehgal said, “We could not achieve our sales growth target of 40 per cent and we only saw a low growth of 20 per cent this year. The whole MI industry is suffering from the Indian Rupee-US Dollar fluctuation, domestic inflation and negative sentiments in the market.”

However, he said all the players believe in the futuristic growth of the market and were focusing on building infrastructure.

“The domestic manufacturers have a 65 per cent market share to 45 per cent for foreign brands like us. But I don’t see any competition as ours is mainly of second-time buyers as compared to first-time buyers for domestic instruments,” he pointed out.

Yamaha which sells a range of instruments in India will focus on items that sell well in the Indian market namely- guitars and keyboards. The average price of Yamaha keyboard is Rs 25,000 with prices starting at Rs 10,000. Guitars start at Rs 5,000 for a classical with the average price pegged at Rs 9,000.

The company will also rope in musicians to endorse its range of musical instruments. It currently has singer Shibani Kashyap endorsing its range of guitars, music composer Loy Mendonsa endorsing the MOX series of synthesizers, Louis Banks the electric piano and Gino Banks with its electric drums.

He added, “We will be expanding our portfolio and associating our products with a whole range of new artists but the names cannot be revealed yet.”