Central air-conditioning and commercial refrigeration major, Blue Star Limited, is planning to add one more unit to its existing five manufacturing units, with an investment of Rs 50-60 crore by next year.
The new unit would support its growth in the residential A-C segment, said B Thiagarajan, president - air-conditioning and refrigeration (products group), Blue Star. He did not give other details.
The company currently caters to the corporate and commercial segment, including offices, restaurants, showrooms, boutiques and ATMs. It would enter the residential AC market from this summer. “We had test marketed a soft campaign in May last year on residential AC and this year would run the campaign pan-India,” he said.
The company is targeting to sell 190,000 units by March 2011 and around 275,000 units by the next financial year. Of this, 50 per cent will be from the residential segment. Around 35 variants would be available in this segment.
“The residential AC market is set to see a double digit growth by 2013 from the current 3 per cent. The room AC market would grow to Rs13,700 crore from the current Rs 8,700 crore,” he said.
The company would launch a new TV commercial by February to support its entry into the residential segment besides increasing the advertising spend to Rs 20 crore from Rs 5 crore now.
The Rs 2,500-crore company reported a turnover of Rs 2,556 crore and a profit of Rs 211.49 last year.
“Andhra Pradesh is a bigger market for us. And we hope to double our market share in Hyderabad from the current 9 per cent with home A-Cs,” he told mediapersons.