"India is much less affected (by the global slowdown) than other global markets and represents a huge opportunity to not only grow sales in India, but even develop products and manufacture them for our global consumers," said Gottfried Dutine, board member and executive vice-president at the Dutch-based Philips.

Philips' management is evolving a long-term plan, running until 2015, to invest in and grow its Indian business, according to the interview. The strategic shift towards markets like India comes in the wake of Philips reporting a 15 per cent fall in sales during the first quarter of 2009 in its more mature markets, according to eetindia.co.in.