 "Videocon eyes air conditioner exports to Australia")
With Australia, Videocon expects to raise share of exports in its overall sales for the air conditioner segment.
"Several inquiries are coming in from Australia and we intend to export there for the first time this year," said Akshay Dhoot, head of technology and innovation, Videocon Industries Limited.
The company had exported about 30,000 air conditioners to Gulf and SAARC countries, with exports forming nine per cent of its total sales.
Add to that, the company is also intending to increase localisation in its air conditioner manufacturing process. Currently, Videocon imports 40 per cent of its components for air conditioner manufacturing, which it intends to reduce to 25 per cent, thereby increasing localisation to 75 per cent.
"We have started domestic procurement to reduce import dependency and we hope to decrease it to 25 per cent this year," said Dhoot. Videocon is also eyeing increase of its domestic market with the introduction of new products in the air conditioner segment.
"With the launch of Penta Inverter air conditioner, we are expecting the overall air conditioner sales figures to reach up to 600,000 units this year. We expect to increase our overall market share in the air conditioner segment to 15 per cent from the current 10 per cent," said Sanjeev Bakshi, chief operating officer - air conditioner division, Videocon.
The overall air conditioner market size in India is nearly four million units which is expected to grow at 15 per cent per annum this year, according to industry estimates. The overall market size is expected to reach 10 million units by 2020.
