Milagrow expects 15-20-fold growth in robot sales in FY21 due to Covid-19

Homegrown robot maker Milagrow expects a 15-20 fold jump in sales this fiscal with machines replacing humans in various processes due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

The demand for floor cleaning and other robots has picked up as people faced domestic help constraints amid concerns around the pandemic, Milagrow founder and chairman Rajeev Karwal told PTI.

"We have seen the market exploding for robots. In the first four months, we have achieved the entire turnover of what we did in last year. In early August we already sold 50 per cent of what we did in the last four months. We expect to sell 1 lakh units this fiscal with an average price of Rs 45-50 thousand," Karwal said.

He said that if everything goes well and there are no supply constraints because of the India-China row then the robot market in India will grow 30 times to 300,000 units.

"At 300,000 units, India market will be around 10 per cent of China market which 3 million units. India market mirrors China market with a lag of five years. I have seen the same for colour television segment, washing machine. This year also dishwashers, robotic vacuum cleaners have gone through the roof," Karwal said.

The company has its own assembly plant in Gurgaon. Milagrow has provided robots to hospitals like AIIMS, Medanta etc during the lockdown period.

Karwal said that Milagrow market share may decline this year to about 35 per cent due to various brands coming in with a boom in the market but would again recover in the next financial year to 50 per cent.

"When any segment booms, several players come in. Consumers also want to experiment with cheaper products. However, even at the 35 per cent market, we would have grown by 1500-2000 per cent. In the next fiscal year, if we are able to continue with customer satisfaction, we will again bounce back to 50 per cent," Karwal said.

The company has been making and selling robots in India since 2011. It claims to have 60 per cent market share at present.

The robotic floor cleaners identify dirt on their own, clean them and move back to their charging point on their own if their battery level goes down.

"Now our robots can clean their own mops," Karwal said.

He said that growth in demand for robots will bring down the cost of high-end robots by up to 50 per cent in the next couple of years.