Business Standard

Monday, December 23, 2024 | 06:03 AM ISTEN Hindi

Notification Icon
userprofile IconSearch

BSH Household to foray into Indian refrigerator market

Image

Press Trust of India New Delhi
BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing is set to enter the Indian refrigerator market and looking to have 10 per cent share in the double door segment in next three years.

The German firm plans to introduce its Serie 4 range of refrigerators, that are claimed to have been specially designed to suit Indian consumers, in the market in May.

"We are entering the double-door refrigerator segment in the 290 to 350 litres range. We are in the process of introducing these products," BSH Household Appliances Manufacturing MD & CEO Gunjan Srivastava told PTI.

In the next three months, the company will add 12 to 15 products completing the range, he added.
 

Srivastava said the Serie 4 range will be sold under the Bosch brand, which caters to the upper end of mass market.

Bullish on the Indian market, he said:" We are aiming to have around 10 per cent market share in the double door segment by FY 2019-20."

At present, total size of refrigerator market is around 9 million units annually in which 2.2 million is from the double door segment, he added.

In order to take on established players, including South Korean majors Samsung, LG besides homegrown players like Godrej, he said BSH is focusing on providing cooling and freshness with storage at a competitive price.

Bosch Serie 4 range of refrigerators would start from Rs 34,000 and above. The company has plans to address the other two door segment between 210 to 290 litres in future.

"We would go below 290 litres in future and in the coming months we would also introduce the new range of side by side and premium end as well," he said adding these units would be manufactured at Pune, through a third party.

On retail expansion, Srivastava said it currently has presence in 1,400 stores across the country and is expected to go beyond 1,500 after its entry into the refrigerator space.

"We are having 55 to 60 brand stores and we would extend it to 100 by end of the year," he said adding that Bosch brand serves the mass premium segment, while Siemens is for the premium segment.

"When we would go towards 100, most of the increment would happen in Bosch being in the upper end of mass segment. It would enter into many new cities and Siemens would restrict to the bigger cities and premium places only," he said.

Srivastava added that presently Bosch is having higher growth compared to Siemens as "we are introducing more new categories under Bosch."

BSH clocked a growth of 65 per cent by value in India last year against its global growth of 11 per cent being its fastest growing market.

"In the next 10 years, we see India as BSH's growth engine and also hub for the emerging market. India would be among top 5 to 10 markets of BSH global," said Srivastava.

BSH has a manufacturing unit in India at Chennai which manufactures washing machine and exports 30 per cent of its production to ASEAN markets and Australia, New Zealand.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Apr 13 2016 | 8:23 PM IST

Explore News