Heavy rains washes out air conditioner sales

Heavy rain in many parts of the country this year has spoiled sales of air conditioners, with major manufacturers like LG and Panasonic stating that demand has slumped significantly this summer.

"Sales are not growing ... Till June the market was growing at 25 per cent. But post June, there has been a sudden slump. There are almost no customers in September," LG India Business Head (AC division) Ajay Bajaj told PTI.

Though LG India did not witness any negative growth in their AC sales this year, he said the company has not been able to meet its expectation due to the prolonged monsoon.

"We do not see any further growth. We are not seeing the kind of sales that we anticipated," Bajaj said.

In the beginning of the year, LG had set a target for 35 per cent growth over last year. In 2009, the company had a growth of 28 per cent. Till June, it witnessed a growth of 30 per cent.

Bajaj, however, declined to share the total number of units sold.

According to Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), the Indian AC market is estimated to be around 3.5 million units last year and it has been growing at the rate of 15 per cent.

Similarly, Japanese electronics firm Panasonic, which saw an over 100 per cent jump in sales during April to August period, said there has been an impact in sales of their entry level models because of the weather.

"Customers who are looking to buy their first ACs have postponed," Panasonic India Director Marketing Manish Sharma said, adding it has affected sales to an extent in the entry level products.

He said around 10 per cent of the total AC sales comes during the June-July period while August-September period contributes around eight per cent every year.

"But this year, September is appearing to be a challenge for us. The humidity factor that fuel sales even during this period every year is not happening because of the constant rain," he said.

However, Carrier which is mainly supplies to institutions, said there has not been any significant impact because of the weather.

"Post June is usually a lean period period for us. This is the time when we focused on our B2B and institutional business. We have not seen any significant impact in terms of our sales during the period," Carrier Director (Marketing and Strategy) Krishnan Sachdev said.