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

This article has been corrected. Please read the clarification at the end.

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 director and chief operating officer. The company recently partnered with 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 consolidated turnover of around $13 billion or Rs 58,500 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. “Due to our partnership with 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.

CLARIFICATION
This article had mentioned Daikin's global turnover at Rs 1,300 crore, which has been corrected to $13 billion or Rs 58,500 crore. The article also wrongly mentioned that Daikin had acquired Gree, whereas the two companies are partners. Daikin has partnered with Gree to fuse its own prowess in energy-efficiency technology together with Gree's expertise in production and procurement of raw materials to manufacture high-performance inverter-type air-conditioners. The errors are regretted.