Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jun 20, 2006 |
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Marketing
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Strategy Blue Star in talks with top retailers for commercial refrigeration Purvita Chatterjee
The `cool' factors Expects to service retailers wanting to beef up their operations in the refrigeration space. Total size of commercial refrigeration is pegged at Rs 400 crore. Blue Star leading with 25 per cent share.
Mumbai , June 19 Central air-conditioning major Blue Star is in talks with Reliance Retail and the other international retailers waiting for the FDI approval, to beef up its commercial refrigeration business. "Considering every new retailer landing in the country first enquires about the refrigeration possibilities, we are expecting this category to have a growth potential of almost 50 per cent," states Mr B. Thiagarajan, Vice-President, Air conditioning & Refrigeration Service Division, Blue Star.
Mega plans
Reliance Retail, with its mega plans of spreading its operations in the north and eastern parts of the country, recently had an analysts meet to highlight its plans and commercial refrigeration was one of the aspects discussed at the meet. "Cold Storage is an opportunity for us and apart from Reliance we have been negotiating with all those players waiting to make a beeline in the country," he added. Ranging from the likes of Walmart, Carrefour to the homegrown retailers such as RPG Retail, Blue Star expects to service the needs of retailers wanting to beef up their operations in the refrigeration space. "There is huge growth happening at the back end operations, especially with regard to storage requirement from farmers. Since we are in the B2B business primarily, we have seen the rise in demand in the commercial refrigeration business," he added.
Having been in the commercial refrigeration business for nearly a decade, the past two years has seen its growth at 25 per cent from the meagre 10 per cent growth it faced two years back. The range of cold chain and commercial refrigeration equipment supplied presently aids farmers, transporters and retailers at almost every stage of the cold chain. For farmers, the equipment supplied comprise collection, grading, sorting, pre-cooling, cold storage, controlled atmosphere storage, high humidity storage and bulk milk coolers. In the case of retailers, there are equipments such as deep freezers and display freezers, visi-coolers, beer coolers and chest coolers. With a host of regional players operating in this space, the total size of the commercial refrigeration industry is pegged at Rs 400 crore with Blue Star leading as a national player with a 25 per cent share.
More Stories on : Strategy | Air-conditioners & Refrigerators
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