The Hindu Business Line : Blue Star sees demand for ACs in residential segment hotting up

Mr T. Gouri Sankara Babu (left), Deputy Managing Director, Blue Star Ltd, and Mr P.V. Rao, Vice-President, Room Air-conditioners and Refrigeration Products Division, at the launch in Chennai on Thursday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, March 27 Air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration major Blue Star has rolled out a range of BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency)-labelled star rated split air-conditioners. The products, in the range of 1, 1.5 and 2 tonners, are awarded 2, 3 and 4 stars. (The higher the star rating, the more energy efficient the machine is.)

Announcing the launch here at a press conference, Mr T. Gouri Sankara Babu, Deputy Managing Director, Blue Star Ltd, the company is all set to introduce products with 5 stars very soon.

Blue Star, which has been historically catering to institutional requirements, commissioned its plant at Himachal Pradesh a couple of years ago to cash in on the growing demand from the residential segment. The plant has an installed capacity to manufacture 5 lakh units a year. According to Mr P.V. Rao, Vice-President, Room Air-conditioners and Refrigeration Products Division, half the demand for the 2-million unit room air-conditioners is for split units. Though a chunk of the demand for split models comes from the institutional segment, the demand from the residential market is also growing rapidly.

Asked about the pricing, Mr Babu said usually 2-star models would cost at least 10 per cent more than the regular model. For example, he said now an average 1.5 tonner split model is priced at Rs 23,500 in the market, 2-star rated will cost Rs 25,500 while 3 and 4-star rated units will sport tags of Rs 27,500 and Rs 31,500 respectively.

He also mentioned that air-conditioner prices which witnessed almost a steep fall in the last four to five years, may not come down any further as the prices of raw materials are moving upwards. “Copper prices, in particular, are going up in the last couple of years as investments in the copper mining industry is almost stagnant,” he pointed out.

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