Godrej eyes 12% in washing machines

Godrej Appliances, a division of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company, is targeting a 12 per cent share in the country's washing machines market in the current financial year.

At present, the company's share in this segment stands at 8 per cent. Last year, it sold 1.5 lakh washing machines valued at Rs 140 crore.

The company launched its new Eon fully automatic washing machine with dynamic aqua-power control (DAC) technology here on Friday.

The DAC technology, developed by the company's R&D unit, can sense and adjust to water and power cuts by monitoring the flow of water and power into the washing machine, Godrej Appliances chief operating officer, George Menezes, told mediapersons.

Menezes said the company, which had recently increased the installed capacity of its refrigerator line from 1 million to 1.5 million units per annum, was now eyeing an estimated Rs 2,000-crore commercial refrigerator and the cold storage market.

The demand for chest coolers, commercial refrigerators would increase with the opening of more large-format retail stores, he said, adding the company's foray into this segment was currently under evaluation.

President and executive director of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company, PD Lal, said Godrej Appliances was targeting a turnover of Rs 1,400 crore this year as against Rs 1,000 crore last fiscal.