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Clean cook-stove manufacturer Envirofit India, a subsidiary of Envirofit International, is targeting to sell 10 lakh such stoves by 2020 in the country, a top official said on Wednesday.
“In the first seven years of our existence in India, since 2008, we sold one million cook-stoves. Now we are planning to sell another one million cook-stoves in the next three to four years, by 2020”, Harish Anchan, Managing Director, told BusinessLine here.
For this purpose, the company has tied up with micro-financing institutions (MFIs), like SKS, in nearly 20 states. Besides, it has also turned attention in the tea plantation sector. Some public sector banks like Bank of India, and NABARD, have also been roped in through NGOs active in different regions, he said.
In all, Envirofit India markets about 15 models of cook-stoves in India, of which it manufactures only a couple of categories. “The rest we import as per the requirements of different regions, groups and peoples.”
He said about 12 to 13 crore households in India depend on various kinds of biomass chulhas (cook-stoves) for their daily requirements.
Envirofit India sells domestic chulhas in a price range of Rs. 1,500 and Rs. 2,100 apiece for individual and family usage and commercial/community chulhas for institutions like anganwadis etc., priced between Rs.35,000 and Rs. 65,000 per chulha.
Biomass chulhas seek to address air pollution that is believed to cause death of nearly 12 lakh people in India, Envirofit’s chulhas save fuel costs and time benefiting nearly 25 lakh people.
Envirofit claims that cook-stoves’ thermal efficiency is 30-35% higher than traditional stoves or chulhas. This allows food to cook faster - saving time and fuel spent on cooking, as well as time spent looking for firewood.
Established in 2008 as a subsidiary of Envirofit International, Envirofit India is a social enterprise that aims to develop and distribute clean technology solutions that improve health, livelihoods, and the environment while enhancing energy efficiency across Asia. It produces low cost biomass cook-stoves that are efficient, durable and affordable for households and commercial applications in developing nations, Anchan added.
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