f Muhammed cannot go to the mountain, the mountain will come to him. That more or less sums up the marketing strategy of almost all the microwave oven (MWO) marketers in the country. The MWO market stood at Rs 145 crore in 2003, having sold around 1.3 lakh units. What is interesting is that the market is expected to flourish this year. According to estimates, by the end of 2004, about 3.75 lakh units of MWOs will be sold. (The market is pegged at Rs 350 crore at the moment). Though this is not really much compared to the sales of other consumer durables (71 lakh units of colour television and 32 lakh units of refrigerators were sold in 2003), one must consider the uphill task most brands have had to face in order to break into the Indian kitchen.

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