"We were not present in full strength in the market," he told reporters. "We will also establish a corporate office here."

Samsung's Sri Lanka country chief Shankar Narayan says the island's television market is set to grow by 20 percent this year from flat or low growth last year.

Sri Lanka is recovering from an economic downturn last year and also a 30-year war which devastated the north and the east of the country.

"We are definitely targeting the north and east," Narayan said. "We are setting up a distribution and service network there."

Sri Lankan annual television sales are estimated at about 300,000 units. Hoon Seol, Samsung's head of strategic planning and South Asia business says about 30 percent of the market is already flat screen in Sri Lanka.

This week in Colombo Samsung launched its top range liquid crystal display (LCD) and light emitting diode (LED) high definition televisions and home entertainment systems.

Top end high definition flat screen systems could go from 150,000 rupees to 500,000 rupees. Others were priced between 56,000 to 72,000.

But Samsung says it has products targeted at different price classes and follows a similar strategy in other markets including India.

It also wants to increase its brand penetration in the mobile phone market. Officials say mobile phones are charged duty of 16.5 percent by the government, televisions and appliances just over 30 percent and camcorders at higher levels.