Room AC market to touch 10 mn units by 2020

The market size of room air conditioners (ACs) in India is likely to reach 10 million units by 2020 with a penetration rate of 11 per cent, said a top official of air conditioning and commercial refrigeration major, Blue Star Ltd.

At present, the market size in India is 3.75 million units with a penetration of around three per cent.

"The market size of Room ACs globally is over 100 million units with a penetration of 30 per cent and China has the highest market size in the world at 50 million units, penetration of over 25 per cent. India offers significant potential for growth in room ACs and it should touch 10 million by 2020," B Thiagarajan, executive director and president, AC&R Products Business, Blue Star told media persons here.

"The room AC market in India has grown by about 10 per cent in this fiscal in volume terms and value wise, the growth rate is pegged at about 20 per cent. We expect the market to grow by about 15 per cent in the next fiscal," he added. If the market grows by 15 per cent by value, Blue Star as a company will grow by 25 per cent, he hoped. The market size of residential segment of room air conditioners is pegged at around Rs 9,000 crore in India. On the expectation from the ensuing Union budget, the senior official said, excise duty relaxation should be allowed on 5 star rated air-conditioners for two years to encourage the sales of such ACs.