Blue Star bullish on Uttar Pradesh AC market

Around 50% Blue Star room AC sales come from smaller towns as consumers in these pockets are 'aspirational'

Air conditioning (AC) major Blue Star has launched its new range of energy efficient and 'eco-friendly' ACs in the Uttar Pradesh market.

Around 50% of Blue Star room AC sales emerge from smaller towns since consumers in these pockets are 'aspirational' and prefer premium brands, Blue Star joint managing director B Thiagarajan said here.

Blue Star had forayed into the residential AC segment only in 2011.

"We intend to continue our aggressive thrust in the room AC market and target to gain a market share of 12% during 2016-17 in terms of value," he informed.

He said the domestic room AC market grew by 10% during 2015, while Blue Star outperformed the market by growing by 20%.

Thiagarajan said the brand had continued to be a strong player in the corporate and commercial segment which comprised 25% of the overall size. The market for room AC is expected to grow by 15% during 2016-17.

Meanwhile, the company plans to invest Rs 30 crore on new product development and research and design initiatives this fiscal. Blue Star has a network of 3,800 outlets in 500 locations across India vide exclusive and multi-brand sales and service AC dealers, retail showrooms and modern trade. Blue Star has 70 exclusive product stores pan-India and plans to increase it to 100 stores during 2016-17.