Electrolux India, the manufacturers of home appliances would be shifting the manufacturing of 1.5 tonne split air-conditioners from its plant in Uttaranchal to China to take advantage of low raw material costs, Ashish Bhatnagar, product head, Airconditioners, Electrolux India has said.
Addressing presspersons here yesterday, Bhatnagar, said, ‘we have decided to import the 1.5 tonne split ACs from a Completely Built Unit (CBU) in China for Indian markets. We will stop the production of this range at our plant in Uttaranchal’.
Bhatnagar said the newer version of the 1.5 tonne ACs (imported from China) will be launched in India in another two months time. The company had launched its 0.75 tonne ACs on Thursday. He said the AC market in India was witnessing a shift from ‘window’ segment to ‘split’ segment following the narrowing down of price difference between the two versions. ‘Last year, the split ACs increased its share to 32-33 per cent as the prices of split ACs came down,’ he said.
‘However, we will continue to manufacture its other ranges including 0.75 tonne and one tonne ACs from the Uttaranchal plant for the Indian market,’ he said.
Asked on the price impact on products imported from China, he said, ‘even after paying 20 per cent customs duty and the countervailing duties, our ACs produced in China can match ACs made in India in terms of manufacturing costs’.
As part of its special exchange offer especially for customers in Chennai and Hyderabad markets, he said the company would offer its 0.75 ton split airconditioners at a breakthrough price of Rs 12,990. The company will also offer its one ton and 1.5 ton split airconditoners at an attractive price of Rs 15,990 and Rs 21,990 respectively.
According to Bhatnagar, ‘through the exchange offer we wish to provide increased value and excitement to our customers by making available state of art international range of air-conditioners that benefits their contemporary style’.
Featuring innovative technology, the new range is equipped with the ‘oxigenerator’ and ‘oxiguard’ that effectively removes odour, dust particles, smoke and inhibits viral and bacterial growth, he said.
From News Today