Chennai:
The consumer durable and electronics major Onida launched
smart inverter air conditioner range to gain market share in the consumer
durable market and has plans to set up AC manufacturing facility in Maharashtra.
Addressing a press conference G L Mirchandani chairman
and managing director of Mirc Electronics which owns Onida and IGO brand on
Tuesday said that plans are on to set up a facility of airconditioners which is
likely to attract an investment of Rs 400 crore.
Interestingly, it is the SMART inverter ACs which
Mirchandani feels would change the face of the industry and redefine the standards
of style and functionality.
Although there has been a lull in the ACs sale in Tamil
Nadu due to rampant power cuts. “It is too early to draw a conclusion although
the sales hasn’t picked up,” says Vipul Mathur, vice-president marketing Onida.
But Onida officials are counting on
inverter ACs for the state where the usage of inverter is quite high. Mathur feels
the inverter ACs can save upto 50 per cent in energy bills.
Mirchandani expects inverter AC market to grow by over
100 per cent this year. Mathur says Onida is planning nearly 15 per cent of its
AC sales from inverter ACs this year and expect the inverter category to
dominate the industry in next two to three years. He said Onida is planning to
increase all India market share of split ACs from 14 pc to 18 pc this year and
have a growth plan of over 50pc this year.
Interestingly, Mirc Electronics is also looking at
manufacturing washing machines and also home appliances. Mathur says the capacity
to manufacture air conditioners will be one million. The company has also set a
target to increase its turnover to Rs 2,000 crore by 2014 from Rs 1,600 crore. The
airconditioner business contributes around Rs 500 crore and electronics
(including TVs) is around Rs 1000 crore and Rs 125 crore by washing machine
business
No comments:
Post a Comment