Taking the dishwasher into the kitchen

You have probably heard of how enterprising Punjabis used washing machines to churn out lassi , as far back as the Eighties. In a similar spirit of experimentation, K Swamynathan of Hyderabad tried using his dishwasher to wash fruits and vegetables with salt and turmeric!

This may be the odd attempt at finding other uses for dishwashers, whose penetration in India is less than 0.5 per cent. Swamy and his wife Shobana, though, are old hands at them. They have had one for the last eight years, bought another second-hand as back-up for when the first one develops a problem and Swamy has been writing a blog called Dishwasher in India since 2009, which tells readers and users how to use and manage the appliance in Indian households.

The couple found the caprices of domestic help difficult to keep up with — they were unpunctual or would not turn up for a few days, and they found they had to clean their vessels all over again when their help did a shoddy job.

Eight years on, they are convinced of the benefits of buying a dishwasher, on several fronts — cost, effectiveness, hygiene and the environment. Companies in the business of selling dishwashers in India are focusing on hygiene while addressing a volley of questions and doubts about the performance of a machine that, in most Indian minds, cannot equal a pair of hands and, worse, uses up space. And more importantly, what would the maid do without all those dishes to clean, doing the dishes is a big part of her job.

“Fifteen years ago, before washing machines were widely adopted, the maids used to wash clothes, but we didn’t dispense with her, did we?” asks Gunjan Srivastava, MD & CEO, BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing. Loading and unloading is still a manual job and you can get the maid to do that, just the way you do with the washing machine, he says.

The company markets the Bosch and Siemens brand of appliances and has set itself the internal target of growing the dishwasher market by 100 per cent this year inclusive of both brands. The company is eyeing the “early adopters” — the well-travelled and those familiar with the concept of dishwashing, as well as those who realise the health and environmental benefits of using a machine. People who are installing modular kitchens or redoing their homes/kitchens are another target market.

Srivastava claims that as dishwashers use hot water to clean the dirty vessels, they come out 99 per cent clean. Then, they consume only about a tenth of the water that manual dishwashing does — the tap is usually left to run while the dishes are being done, and that can amount to as much as 120 litres, while one bout of dishwashing takes only 12 litres, he says. The energy consumption per wash cycle is approx 1.02 kWh.

Bosch’s machines are designed for the country they sell in, says Rudolf Walfort, Executive Vice President & Head of Product Division Dish Care, BSH Group. There are special baskets for Indian utensils such as kadais and pressure cookers. Srivastava adds that there is an ‘Intense Kadai’ programme designed to tackle tough stains, such as turmeric. But can the friction provided by a pair of hands and soap and scrubber against a plate be replicated by a stream of water?

Srivastava says the company has increased the pressure of the spray arm to deal with Indian vessels which can get quite dirty from the amount of oil and spices used to cook a meal. He also claims that there is no need to rinse the vessels by hand before loading the dishwasher with them, countering the question of why one needs a dishwasher if one has to pre-rinse vessels anyway. “Just cleaning the leftovers is enough,” he says.

Adite Banerjie, a resident of Greater Noida, National Capital Region, says the dishwasher cannot clean burnt kadais, or ones that have been used for heavy duty cooking and frying. Those need elbow grease, she says, but otherwise finds the dishwasher helpful.

BSH is using dishwashers with a transparent door so that customers can see how they actually work. It is also taking the appliances to potential customers’ houses for trials and demonstrations.

There are issues of space, too. Walfort says consumers in China, a comparatively mature market, had the same concerns. The company analysed 2,000 kitchens in China. Most of them measured about 70 sq ft but there was always space for a dishwasher.

Rana Pratap Singh, Managing Director of premium appliances brand Miele India, says using a dishwasher has nothing to do with the size of the home, apartment or bungalow. “It’s not just to wash a dish. We can have organic food but what use is it when your plate continues to be dirty? The realisation has to come that heavily soiled dishes need to be washed in 75 degrees C to become germ-free.”

Miele raises awareness mostly through dealers of luxury European modular kitchens. He talks of a dealer in Surat who has installed a dishwasher in his home and encourages prospective customers to come and observe its functioning.

“Word of mouth plays a big role in convincing others to adopt,” he says. Miele’s dishwasher prices begin at ₹80,000.

BSH’s prices begin at ₹35,000, which is about the same as a front-loading washing machine, and there are good financing options, says Srivastava. Europe and North America make up 70 per cent of the world market for dishwashers (35 million units were sold worldwide in 2015), while South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and Turkey account for most of the remaining 30 per cent. There is an installed base of 300 million households. By 2025, BSH expects to have sold about 35-40 million units. In India, dishwashers are now at the stage where front-loading washing machines were about 20 years ago, says Srivastava.

BSH is targeting the four major metros as well as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Kochi as 80-90 per cent of the early adopters are here. The machine comes with a warranty of two years, and there is a 10-year guarantee on availability of spare parts, says Srivastava, adding that their service network covers 300 cities.

The company will sell the detergent through its dealers and service channels. Brands such as Finish and Fortune are available in major stores in the cities and online, too.

Swamy of Hyderabad recommends that one choose a dishwasher based on the company’s after-sales service record, and not on brand equity. Spares are the main drawback, there are no serviceable parts, only replaceable ones. Banerjie, however, says that service tends to be inconsistent as companies outsource the service jobs.

Swamy believes an advanced model isn't really necessary. The basic one will do. “A hot-water wash for 90 minutes is what most of us get used to, one rarely changes the programme,” he says.

The main players in the category here are IFB and BSH. Major home appliances brands LG and Samsung have listed just two and one model each on their websites. While marketers say buying dishwashers is a matter of education and not money, it remains to be seen how many are willing to be taught.

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