In a market crowded with over 100 TV brands, launching yet another television might seem like an act of bravery or madness. But for Sudeep Sahu, Co-founder and Head of Product at Lumio, this move is neither impulsive nor ill-informed. Alongside former colleagues from Xiaomi and Flipkart, he’s spent the last year building something distinctly different – TVs made in India, for a more evolved Indian consumer.
When we caught up with him, he was candid, hopeful, and unapologetically passionate. “It’s been a year of hard work getting this up and running,” he said. “It got delayed a bit, but we wanted to get it right.”
What made Sahu and his team confident that this was the right time to launch a TV brand in such a saturated space?
“Two reasons,” he begins. “A lot of established brands have exited, and the market for smart TVs has pockets of growth – particularly in 4K and Mini LED.” He breaks it down with numbers: “70% of TVs shipped in the last year were 4K. That’s why we’re only doing 4K. And globally, Mini LED TVs are now outselling OLED.”
For Lumio, this wasn’t about creating a budget-friendly TV, it was about crafting a “mid-premium” experience that delivers high performance without pushing prices into the stratosphere. “We’re not chasing first-time buyers,” Sahu clarifies. “We’re building for consumers who already use smart TVs but are frustrated with their limitations.”
One of the standout features of Lumio’s TVs is the processing power, comparable to what you’d find in televisions that cost upwards of ₹2 lakh. This includes a flagship-grade processor, 3GB RAM and ample storage to give enough headroom for consumers and ensure that performance stays as is in the long run. “All our LED TVs, including the 43-inch Vision 7, come with at least 16GB storage. The Vision 9 Mini LED steps it up with 32GB,” he says.
And we agree with Sudeep on this. While display quality is undeniably crucial and often the first thing you notice when watching content, performance plays an equally important role in the overall experience, especially when you’re switching between apps or browsing for something new to watch. Most TVs today are grossly underpowered, and no one’s really addressed the issue head-on. “We didn’t want to cut corners,” Sahu adds. “Performance is a real issue in the TV segment, and we’re here to solve that.
Interestingly, one of Lumio’s earliest decisions wasn’t about hardware – it was about support. “Before we even finalised the product, we built our after-sales network. From day one, we’ll be able to serve over 300 cities,” Sahu proudly shares. “That’s how serious we are about customer trust. We even pushed our quality control thresholds higher than what’s standard.”
All Lumio TVs will ship with a two-year warranty—another clear sign that the brand wants to win over sceptical buyers with reliable, long-term support.
Lumio TVs are being manufactured by Dixon Technologies, one of the biggest ODM for TVs in India. When we asked who was responsible for tuning the display profiles and calibrating colour accuracy, Sahu smiles. “That was us,” he says. “we personally sat with a Sony reference monitor used by professional colourists to give inputs to fine-tune each picture mode.”
He elaborates: “Our displays support high peak brightness and can achieve up to 82% of the BT.2020 colour space on the Vision 9 Mini LED. Even our 43-inch model hits around 69%, and thus were not a limiting factor when it comes to presenting the creator’s intent as is” For reference, more than 80% of BT2020 coverage is what we have only seen on a few flagship TVs like the Sony Bravia 9 and Samsung S95D QD-OLED TV.
For those wondering which picture mode is the most accurate, Sahu doesn’t hesitate: “Movie mode. It’s calibrated to D65 white point. Standard mode is second, but I personally prefer the warmth of Movie mode.”
Interestingly, Lumio’s journey also took them all the way to San Francisco. “We met with the Google TV team,” he recounts. “Most brands ask them to optimise software for low-cost hardware. We asked them to help optimise for high-performance hardware.”
It wasn’t easy. “There was no solution ready for what we were building. We had to wait to get the right processor, RAM, Wi-Fi chipset, everything. But it paid off.”
Sahu also talked about how Lumio just doesn’t want to be known as a hardware company. They have worked hard to develop in-house software experience, such as TLDR – an initiative aimed at improving content discovery for music and sports fans. “We’re a Cricket Nation. Yet, TVs don’t give you scorecards or rankings upfront like your smartphones. TLDR is our attempt to solve that.”
When asked why there’s no 65-inch variant, Sahu is refreshingly honest. “We studied Amazon’s data. For new brands, TVs above a certain price point are hard to sell initially. It’s not that we can’t build them, we just want to be cautious.”
This measured approach defines Lumio’s ethos. It’s not about rushing into the market with every possible size or spec, but about building trust, one solid product at a time.
Lumio isn’t just thinking about televisions. “Our vision is home entertainment,” he says. “We have plans. We’re not ready to announce everything yet, but the products we’re building are future-ready. Even this first batch has tech for connected spaces that we haven’t even talked about.”
Sahu, who has a personal love for audio, hopes to eventually build “the best audio product for the masses”. But he’s in no hurry. “This is not cookie-cutter stuff. We’re taking our time to research and develop solutions that actually solve problems.”
As the interview winds down, Sahu admits, “Yes, we’re scared. But we’re giving it our all. We’re playing on the front foot. And really – why should great TVs only come from outside India?”
Lumio may be new, but it’s not naïve. With strong industry roots, a clear vision, and a commitment to both performance and longevity, it just might be the fresh perspective the Indian TV market needs. And in a world of cookie-cutter tech, that’s a bet worth watching.
