In its 80th year, Blue Star has come out with a wide range of Residential ACs (RAC) with capacities ranging from 0.8 TR to 2.2 TR. The starting price is from Rs 29,990 and as part of the 80th anniversary celebration several schemes and discounts are being offered.
The company is planning to expand its Sri City facility by another 300,000 sq ft and by about 5 years this would become the company’s largest manufacturing and exporting hub in the country. The company’s all India market share stands at about 13.75 per cent and the south of India contributes to about 50 per cent of Blue Star’s sales. With 7 facilities and a revenue of Rs 7977 crore in FY23, the company aims to cross the Rs 10,000 crore mark either by the end of this financial year or a few months then.
“The Indian RAC market is expected to double by 2030 and surpass China by 2047. The current sales stands at 10 million units in FY24. We find increasing demand amongst first time buyers and also from Tier 2,3 and 4 segments. To address this, we are focusing on an all-new affordable range,” highlighted B Thiagarajan, Managing Director. The company is betting on the Smart Wi-Fi range of ACs and expects to sale around 100,000 units against the 5000 sold last year. “The price of electronics has fallen down and due to this, we offer better features at a highly competitive price,” said Girish Hingorani, Vice President, Marketing. A marketing budget of Rs 40 crore has been set apart for the summer and expects sale of 10 per cent from flagship range, 40 per cent from affordable range and 50 per cent from premium range.
The company plans to strengthen its distribution in North and expand the brand stores from the current footprint of 200. The focus is also on e-commerce and modern trade channels and it is the first on ONDC.
Bilateral agencies have been critical of India’s RAC growth and the associated climate impact. Thiagarajan referred to the continuously evolving star rating system and highlighted, “A 5-star AC last year has been downgraded to 3-star this year and we have another review meeting on the rating system which will again revise the standards. The ratings are based on Indian climatic conditions and we can say that the Indian rating system is much efficient than the other systems across the world.” A 3-star rated Indian AC is much environment friendly than other similar standard rating systems.
While localisation is at 70 per cent, the company still imports compressors, copper tubes, semi conductor chips. Thiagarajan commented that in compressors, the huge volumes produced in China makes it possible for them to offer at highly competitive prices. But with changing geo political situation, he also mentioned that the top players of the industry must sooner or later work on a solution to domestically produce the same at similar price points.
