Japanese air-conditioner maker Fujitsu General plans to double its market share India in the next two to three years., said a top official. “Currently, we have a market share of 3% and we will consider setting up a manufacturing unit in India when it reaches 6%,” said Etsuro Saito, president, Fujitsu General Ltd. (FGL) Japan. “To achieve this, we are launching new models aimed at the mass Indian AC market for rapid growth,” said Mr. Saito.
The company’s products retail under the O’General brand. Mr. Saito said that the Indian room air-conditioner market consumed seven million units and was growing at 10% to 12% annually. Fujitsu General focused on mass market by unveiling new models of inverter split ACs.
FGL has training centres in different parts of the country. The next centre will come up in one of the four major Indian cities during the current year. This would be followed either by R&D Centre or a manufacturing unit, said Matsumoto Koji, MD, Fujitsu General (India) Pvt. Ltd. (FGIPL).
FGIPL, a subsidiary of FGL, had earlier announced its plan to set up a manufacturing unit in the south. But, it was deferred as the sales volume had remained flat at 2,00,000 units per annum for FY18 and FY19.
“To tackle this, we are focusing on mass market (three-star AC) products. They will be imported from Thailand. It was the major missing market segment for us. With this, we are expecting a 50% growth in our sales volume for the next two to three years continuously,” said K.C. Poovaiah, head, sales and marketing, FGIPL.
Last year, FGIPL sold 2,00,000 units valued at $100 million and this year, it plans to sell 3,00,000 units valued at $150 million. Of this, split AC and inverter ACs would account for a major share of the revenue, said Mr. Koji.
Asserting that they have always been a high-end brand focusing on delivering high-end products, Mr. Poovaiah said still O’General ACs were being sold at a premium. But they would like to reduce end-consumer prices by about 10% to make them affordable.
According to him, FGIPL offered 24 models with prices ranging from ₹25,000 to ₹1.50 lakh a piece in the five- star category.
