Godrej Appliances aims to double its sales growth in the residential air condition segment this summer and increase the market share despite a recent price hike and inflationary pressure on inputs, said a top company official. It has however hinted at another price hike by the AC industry in April this year if the commodity prices continue to soar. The company, which introduced its line-up of ACs for 2022, expects that a pent-up demand coupled with a good summer season ahead would help its market share of 6-7 per cent reach 10 per cent."Our current market is ranging between 6 to 7 per cent and we are targeting gains of 3 per cent to move to a double-digit," Godrej Appliances Business Head and Executive Vice President Kamal Nandi said. The Godrej & Boyce group firm expects pent-up demand coming from the last two summers, to be consumed this summer.
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The Indian residential AC market is expected to be around 5 million units per annum, according to Nandi. "While summer sales for AC in 2021 was better than 2020 summer, the business still hasn’t reached pre-covid levels. With the third wave practically over, vaccination drive covering a larger population and summer temperatures rising, we expect more than double growth in our AC sales this summer in comparison to last year," he said. Presently, the firm has a manufacturing capacity of 0.5 million units at Shirwal, near Pune and is also planning to expand capacity by starting manufacturing at its plant at Mohali, Punjab.
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"Expansion would happen in Mohali. After this we would move close to one million units per annum," he said. Asked about the capex for Mohali to increase the capacity, Nandi said:"Right now it's at the evaluation stage. Even at Shirwal we would expand the capacity from 0.5 million units to 0.7 million units and this would be exhausted after two years." According to Nandi, Godrej Appliances has a strong portfolio in the residential AC segment which is best in class in terms of technology and durability and consumers are preferring good products in the segment as it's a long-term investment. "Summer is expected to be good and cooling category should do well. We have already seen signs as offtake and demand are going up. In South, the demand has already picked up and we have also seen signs in the West," said Nandi adding " I have a very strong confidence that we would be preferred by consumers." Like other makers, Godrej Appliances also hiked prices in January this year due to soaring rates of metals such as copper, freight charges and plastics. "The prices are expected to go up. The input costs are expected to go up and there will be some amount of pressure on the price. We anticipate that," he said adding "inflationary trends might be a dampener for the demand coming summer."
According to Nandi, now most of the AC makers have gone for the first round of price increase and the second round of hike will depend on how the current commodity scenario shapes up."If it is going to harden because of the current crisis, which we are facing globally, then there could be another round of price hike in April," he added. Godrej Appliances on Thursday launched its premium range of air conditioners with advanced cooling, air purification technology, IoT controls and differentiated aesthetics. To cater to consumers’ growing acceptance for smart ACs, the firm has introduced its all-new Godrej Eon D series, which are wi-fi enabled and operated remotely through android smartphones.
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"In line with our philosophy of ‘Things Made Thoughtfully’, we are embracing new-age technologies to deliver best-in-class solutions for our consumers. Our indigenous manufacturing expansion is helping us offer a wider AC portfolio to our consumers, with greater design possibilities," he said. UVCool Technology incorporated in Godrej ACs help disinfect the air as well as surfaces.
PTI Inputs
