Daikin to enter home AC market in India, test marketing on

Daikin, the global cooling products company, is foraying into the residential air conditioning (AC) market. The company plans to enter the Indian market with the launch of its residential ACs (0.75-1.8 tonne) which will go by the FTE name.

Daikin is test marketing its products in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and may then do so in 19 Tier-III and Tier-III towns and cities such as Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Raipur.

“We are planning to enter the residential AC market and are here to compete with the existing players in the market, mainly Toshiba,” said Kanwal Jeet Jawa, deputy managing directorand chief operating officer. The company recently acquired Gree, the Chinese AC major, and will be using their resource base for the further development of the ACs it will produce in India.

The company has made a total investment of about Rs 346 crore for this venture. Daikin, which has a global turnover of around Rs 1,300 crore, has decided to ramp up its operations at its manufacturing unit in India, at Neemrana in Rajasthan, for this purpose. The plant has a capacity of 3,00,000 units per year.

Daikin, which entered the Indian market in 2000, is targeting a market share of 15 per cent over the next three years and also doubling its market share from Rs 500 crore to about Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years. “With our acquisition of Gree, we have the expertise to further our brand in the residential AC space in India, which is growing rapidly,” said Jawa.

Daikin Industries is headquartered in Japan and has 95 subsidiaries in its network. The company is a global leader, second to Carrier in the manufacturing of ACs for commercial-use. It has been offering premium air conditioning solutions in the Indian market for large-scale projects.

Analysts say with robust growth of 30-40 per cent forecast yearly for India’s air-conditioning market, Daikin has come in at the right time.