Godrej to expand AC portfolio

Chennai: Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company is planning to launch 25 new models of air conditioners by next month. Of Godrej's total AC sales, 60-65 per cent comes from split ACs and 65 per cent of its sales come from Tamil Nadu state.

The company had a market share of four per cent (1 lakh units) of the AC market all India in FY06 and is eyeing a 10 per cent (over 2 lakh units) share by 2007-08.

The domestic AC segment has been growing at 20 per cent annually. Split AC units currently comprise about 60 per cent of the market base, at an estimated 20 lakh units. The company has 60 per cent distribution base in the high-end split AC segment compared with the industry average of 48 per cent.

Godrej launched 18 new split AC models with the i-TREC (inverter technology for reduced electricity consumption) technology. The proposed launches will focus on ACs which offer i-SENSE. This is a sensor-based technology which controls temperature in their immediate surroundings through constant exchange of data between the AC inlet and the remote control unit.