Voltas Uttaranchal plant to begin production in two mths

Voltas Ltd, part of Tata group, expects to start production of air-conditioners at its new plant in Uttaranchal in two months.

Addressing a press conference on the launch of its new marketing campaign for 2006, K J Jawa, senior vice-president, Unitary Products Business group, Voltas, said that the new manufacturing plant has a capacity to manufacture 3 lakh units. The company has invested about Rs 120 crore in the plant in Uttaranchal.

"Voltas has another plant in Dadra with a capacity of 2 lakh units. Both the plants would jointly manufacture about 5 lakh units a year. We expect to sell about 3 lakh unit in the domestic market and the remaining would be exported," he added.

He pointed out that the company would look at buying out sick overseas air conditioner manufacturing companies in the country. However, Jawa declined to give further details regarding this.

Indian air-conditioner market is estimated to have a sales potential of 12.5 lakh units every year. This is expected to grow to 15 lakh air conditioners in 2006-07. "We plan to achieve 20 per cent of the market-share with the multi-pronged strategy," he added. Currently, Voltas has a 16 per cent of the market share while LG is the market leader with 33 per cent market share.

He pointed out that there had been an increase in demand for split air-conditioners, priced between Rs 14,000 to Rs 36,000.

Voltas has unveiled its new national marketing campaign for 2006, named 'India Ka Dil, India Ka AC'. With the early onset of the summer in Chennai, Voltas has first launched its marketing campaign in the city.

"We have earmarked Rs 20 crore for marketing initiatives and an additional Rs 6 crore for retail expansion," said Jawa. The company plans to double its dealer network from 2,000 to 3,500 nationally. It would also strengthen its franchisee presence to 500 from the current 350.

Voltas has sold about 30,000 air conditioners of 0.8 tonne which was launched at Rs 10,000 last year.

He said that the company decided its pricing strategy with a view to capturing mass market and targeting the rural market. The small air-conditioners (0.8 tonne) which consume about 600 watts of electricity has attracted small retailers and consumers living in small apartments, said Jawa.