Puspalata Kar, a homemaker, spent half a day at a store in Bhubaneswar looking at induction stoves and settled for a Morphy Richards product.

So far, she had been using a conventional stove, but the Centre’s recent decision to cap the supply of subsidised cooking gas at six LPG cylinders a household in a year has forced her to look at an alternate mode of cooking.

“My family requires two cylinders in 60 days, but with the new regulation we are finding it very hard to manage. We pay Rs 430 for a cylinder and have to shell out another Rs 900 for an extra ,” she added.

Like Puspalata, many women are switching their loyalties to induction plates by players such as Philips, Bajaj Electricals, Morphy Richards and TTK Prestige. Even International players such as Fisher and Paykel are banking on the growing demand.

“We see a lot of traction in this category. The Government’s decision is just a boon by default and we see exciting months ahead from sales perspective. We clocked Rs 100 crore in the first year of our launch in 2011, and this fiscal we expect to earn Rs 150 crore,” said Shekhar Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Electricals.

TTK Prestige also sells two products under the brand Prestige Premia. “We created a base in the last 3 years and have 25 per cent market share. We see a 20 per cent growth in this category,” said K Shankaran, official spokesperson at TTK Prestige.

While the gas stove market in India is at Rs 1,300 crore, the induction stove market has already reached Rs 1,200 crore in just a few years and is growing at 30-40 per cent, said Nilesh Gupta, Managing Partner at Mumbai-based retail chain Vijay Sales.

>Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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