Carrier announces price hike for AC products

"In the last 12 months, commodity costs have increased significantly, led by copper (up 53 per cent from February 2007) and steel (up 34 per cent from February 2007), as well as petroleum-based plastics," said Zubin Irani, managing director, Carrier India. "We have been able to offset some but not all of the increases through improved productivity."

Carrier's decision to hike prices comes days after LG Electronics, Godrej Appliances, Videocon among other consumer durables companies, decided  to raise prices of television sets, refrigerators, washing machines and other products by as much as 5 per cent in June to offset an increase in cost of steel, copper and other inputs. The revision in prices, the second in four months, may push inflation higher.