Water heater maker Racold Thermo, part of the Italian firm Ariston Thermo Group, aims to contribute 10 per cent to its global turnover in the next 4-5 years, a top company official said.
Ariston Thermo Group is a 1. 5 billion Euro company with presence in more than 150 countries, and India is one of the five strategic markets for the group.
"The group has refocused on India in the last two years and we are preparing a roadmap for the next five years. The goal is to be at least 10 per cent of the global turnover in about 4-5 years," Ariston Thermo India Managing Director V Ramnath told PTI.
Without divulging the exact share, he said India currently contributes around mid to high single digit in percentage terms to the global revenues.
Ariston Thermo India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Italian Ariston Thermo Group and is responsible for marketing, sales and service of Racold products in India.
There are an estimated 8 crore people in the country who use immersion rods, Ramnath said and the company sees a huge potential in India with the water heater industry holding a potential to become a Rs 15,000 crore market in the next 10 years, when these consumers are brought into the mainstream.
The water heater category is estimated to be around Rs 1,800-2,500 crore, with solar water heaters accounting for 15 per cent of the market and the remaining being electric water heaters.
The electric water heater segment is growing at 7-8 per cent per annum, while the solar water heater category is estimated to grow by about 12 per cent per annum.
Racold Thermo has over one-third of the market share in the overall water heater space.
The company is also ramping up distribution channels and wants to establish its presence in all the towns with population of over one lakh.
"By 2017-end, we want to be present in all the towns with over one lakh population. Currently, we are covering about 10,000 retail stores and we want to move to about 14,000-15,000 stores. We have 170 service centres and want to move to about 200 by end of 2017," he said.
The company, which spends 7-8 per cent of its revenues on marketing, is also planning to establish direct online presence this year.
"We are not directly in online space but we are creating an online strategy, and will be ready with it in March or April. We want both online and offline to complement each other. We are also considering if we should have specific products for online consumers," he said.
By 2020, Ariston Thermo group aims to have 80 per cent of its business coming from high efficiency and renewable solutions.
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