New Delhi, July 10: Matsushita Electric Industrial Corporation (MEIC), the well-known Japanese consumer electronics major, will consolidate itself as the ‘Panasonic’ brand by March next year.

“We will position Panasonic as our main brand all over the world except Japan by March 2004. Brand significance for every company is increasing year on year. It is done to strengthen Matsushita’s global brand positioning in India and worldwide,” said Masaaki Ikezaki, managing director of National Panasonic India (NPI), the 100 per cent subsidiary and the marketing arm of MEIC, Japan.

The Panasonic brand, which claims to cover over 90 per cent of its sales outside Japan, is also starting a global brand campaign ‘Panasonic ideas for life’ reflecting customer-focused strategy behind its products.

NPI, set up in 1994 and a part of $ 69-billion Matsushita group, markets its different products under the brandname ‘National’ and ‘Panasonic’. While all electric home appliances are branded as ‘National’, the audio-visual equipment and information and communications equipment are marketed as ‘Panasonic’.

NPI, which made a turnover of Rs 400 crore last year, achieves 65 per cent of its sales through its consumer products division, while the remaining 35 per cent is attributed from the systems products division.

Ikezaki said the company hopes to break-even in fiscal 2003-04 after two years of losses at its Indian operations.