When the cricketers of India and Pakistan will toil in the next 40 days to establish supremacy over 22 yards, two Korean conglomerates are set to slug it out in India to grab a slice of the country's consumer durables market.

The battle between Samsung India and LG Electronics India, the Indian subsidiaries of the Korean giants Samsung and LG, has commenced well before Sourav Ganguly's men in blue take on Inzamam-ul Haq's men in green.

India's tour of Pakistan

In fact, the battle began a few months ago when both the companies bid for the title sponsorship, which Samsung won eventually.

But losing the title sponsorship war did not mean end of the battle for LG. It came out with a huge promotional campaign to compensate the loss.

LG Electronics India managing director Kwang-Ro Kim told Business Standard that the company has chalked out a total expenditure of Rs 65 crore (Rs 650 million) for the promotion during the series.

The promotion would enable the company to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,350 crore (Rs 13.50 billion), he added. The expenditure included prizes worth Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million), media campaign and on-air association with Ten Sports.

A Samsung India spokesperson said the company would spend Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) during the Samsung Cup, as the Indo-Pak tour trophy has been christened.

The proposed expenditure includes title sponsorship, association with Ten Sports and commercials on a handful of products like ACs, refrigerators, notebook PCs and camera phone.

The expenditure also include the production of the theme song for the cup.

The spokesperson, however, did not disclose the targeted sales figures. She said: "The company expects to record 50 per cent jump in CTV during March-April, 2004 compared with March-April, 2003. The overall sales in the consumer durable are expected to grow by 30 per cent during the Indo-Pak series," she added.

According to her, acquiring the title sponsorship would hugely benefit the company in enhancing its brand image.

"The trophy is named after the company. The name will remain forever even after the tournament is over," she said.

LG Electronics managing director said the fight for the title sponsorship was in sync with its business tactics.

"We kept a low profile while fighting over the sponsorship. Now the hype is created and therefore, its time to ride on the hype," Kim said.