Blue Star eyes Rs 120 cr from water purifiers biz in FY '19-20

: Airconditioner-maker Blue Star Ltd, which forayed into the water purifier business in 2016, has set a target revenue of Rs 120 crore from it during this financial year, a top company official said Wednesday.

The company, which sold 70,000 units of water purifiers since 2016, was also eyeing to retail 1.20 lakh units, Blue Star Ltd managing director B Thiagarajan said.

"We are attempting to reach a turnover of Rs 120 crore from this business in (financial year 2019-2020)," he told reporters after unveiling a range of water purifiers.

According to company officials, Blue Star was also aiming to surpass the marketshare of five per cent in this vertical during this financial year.

The company, in 2019-20, would generate jobs for around 500 people which include recruiting around 200-250 people for its new manufacturing facility being set up in Wada, Maharashtra.

Besides the Wada unit, Blue Star has manufacturing facilities in Himachal Pradesh, Dadra and Ahmedabad.

"We are expecting that (Wada unit) to go on stream in summer 2020," Thiagarajan said.

Commenting on the launch of 34 new models in water purifying business, here, he said the price ranges from Rs 7,900 to Rs 46,900.

The company which sells water purifiers in 2,800 outlets also planned to increase them to 5,000 by expanding presence in tier-II, III and IV cities.

Thiagarajan said Blue Star has integrated the sales and service function of water purifier business with that of room airconditioners to leverage the strengths of the room airconditioners.

The company has earmarked about Rs 30 crore for taking up advertising and sales promotion for the waterpurifying business, he said.

According to him, the electric residential water purifier market was pegged at around Rs 5,000 crore with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8-9 per cent.