The Moser Baer [Get Quote] juggernaut refuses to lose momentum.

Over the last couple of years, while India's largest and the world's second-largest optical storage manufacturer has forayed into the home video and solar photo-voltaic markets, the company on Monday announced the launch of its Optical Disk Drive (ODD), a combo drive and DVD writer, marking its entry into the Rs 12,000 crore (Rs billion) PC peripherals industry.

Moser Baer has, in partnership with Taiwan's Philips and Lite-On Digital Solutions Corp (the world's largest OEM/ODM optical disc drive manufacturer), launched the ODDs in India under the name of 'Moser Baer-Lite-on'.  The company plans to launch the product in five metros. 

Deepak Puri, CMD, Moser Baer India, said: "It has been our constant endeavour at Moser Baer to reach out to our potential and existing target customers with high quality products in various segments. We see a lot of potential and latent demand in the PC peripheral market in India. I am sure Moser Baer will carve a niche for itself in this segment too."

The IT vertical industry (PCs and Notebooks) is pegged at Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) and the PC peripherals industry is worth Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion).

With its entry in the ODD market, Moser Baer aims to capture a 20 per cent market share in the current market size of five lakh units a month.  The PC peripherals industry in India is dominated by the likes of HP, Samsung, LG, Sony, Acer and Logitech.

Bhaskar Sharma, executive vice-president, Moser Baer India, said: "The launch complements our existing optical media business and we are hoping that by leveraging our established strong brand equity, we will emerge as a front-runner with a significant market share in this segment too."

While Moser Baer has started with ODDs, industry experts say it is logical for the company to introduce other peripherals such as keyboards, headsets, speakers and mice too. Besides, they add, it has synergies with the home video (entertainment) market foray as an end-to-end solutions provider.

The Moser Story

1999: Moser Baer commences production of CD-Rs (CD - read only)
2000: Production of CD-RWs (read and write)
2003: Commissions single-largest optical media production facility in Greater Noida
2005: Announces plans to enter the high-growth photo-voltaic (PV) business
2006: Sets up Moser Baer Entertainment Division