Hyderabad-based Tecumseh Products India Limited, the Indian subsidiary of the US-based over $1.5-billion Tecumseh Products Company Limited, is focusing on unveiling value-added products like DC (direct current) compressors, including solar-based, according to Ravi Raghavan, managing director, Tecumseh India.
“We have launched our DC-based product early this year. We are also working at products that can use solar energy for cooling,” he told mediapersons on the sidelines of a national conference on ‘Accelerating India’s economic growth: Is manufacturing a prime driver?’ organised by Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management here on Thursday.
Tecumseh, a manufacturer of compressors for air-conditioners, refrigeration and cooling systems, forayed into the Indian market 15 years ago. It has so far sold 1,000 units of DC-based products. It is targeting to market around 30,000 units in India in the next two years.
Raghavan said the company had come out with a fruit ripening system, developed at its global technology centre in Hyderabad. “The product can be used to ripe fruits like bananas and mangoes through cooling instead of using chemicals, and make the process faster and also improve the quality of the fruit,” he said.
“The ripening systems were being sold at 12 centres in and around Hyderabad. Plans are afoot to market the ripening systems in other parts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” Raghavan added.
Tecumseh, which has a 3-million unit per year production capacity at Faridabad and an installed capacity of 1 million rotary compressors in Hyderabad, currently sells 150,000-200,000 units of rotary compressors in India.
“Today 99 per cent of rotary compressors are imported from China. Although we had launched the product in India about four years ago, the growth has been slow due to the China factor. We are streaming up the supply chain. India takes some time. Rotary compressors are the future in air-conditioning and we should be able to fully utilise the 1 million installed capacity in two years from now,” Raghavan said.
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The Indian arm, which has two manufacturing facilities – one at Faridabad and the other in Hyderabad, contributes 15 per cent to its parent’s global sales. About 50 per cent of its revenues from India is from exports to China, West Asia and African countries.
“Because of the slowdown, India's contribution to our revenues will be around 12 per cent this year. However, our India growth story looks good as long as the China factor doesn't affect the economy,” he added.