Blue Star Limited has stated that it will commission its new facilities at Sri City in the State by the end of 2017 or early 2018. The company will invest about Rs.100 crore on the new facility, according to its executive director and president-AC and R products business B. Thiagarajan.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Thiagarajan said that the company plans to set up two units, one each at Andhra Pradesh and Jammu. The Sri City plant would be built around an area of around 20 acre and the Jammu factory was to be constructed over 24 acre. A clear picture on Jammu facility would emerge by April 15. Work at Sri City unit depends on Jammu unit, he said adding, “We cannot work on both units at a time.”
The company currently has five plants in Wada, Dadra, Ahmedabad, and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from planning to avail itself of state GST benefits for intrastate sales, the Sri City plant would lead to saving of logistics cost, since a significant proportion of air conditioner sales of the company in South. The Sri City unit is expected to manufacture 5 lakh units a year by the end of third phase. And, by the end of phase-I, 1.5 lakh units of ACs would be rolled out of the facility, he said.
The company plans to invest about Rs. 40 crore in marketing in the forthcoming summer season and Rs. 30 crore in new product development as well as its research and development initiatives in the financial year 2017. When the market was growing at 10 per cent, Blue Star achieved 20 per cent growth. The market was expected to grow at 15 per cent this year, and the company has set a target of 25 per cent, he added.
