While 2015 turned out to be a flat year in terms of business growth, the air-conditioner industry is expecting some improvement this year in the hope that mercury levels will likely fire up early this season. Envisaging the pick-up, Indian consumer durable majors like Godrej Appliances and Videocon Industries have taken the lead and introduced their new range of inverter air conditioners in the market.

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As major efforts are being put towards introducing energy efficient products, industry experts are of the view that inverter ACs will be the fastest growing segment with 75% growth every year and 10% contribution to industry sales. Interestingly, both Godrej and Videocon are looking at garnering a 15% market share in the inverter air conditioner category this season.

While Godrej has launched the new energy-efficient air conditioner range under its premium sub-brand NXW with a new rating system Indian Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (ISEER), Videocon has positioned its Penta Inverter ACs as the world's first five-star in 1 and 1.5 ton capacity.

Introduced in June 2015 by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for inverter ACs, ISEER calculates efficiency as a ratio of the total amount of heat that an AC can remove from indoor air to the total annual amount of energy consumed by the AC to do that over a period of a year, Godrej said in a statement. "Essentially, it rates ACs based on how much power they consume to cool a certain amount of air. So a more efficient AC will use less power to cool a larger volume of air than a less efficient one. The higher the ISEER awarded to an AC, the more energy efficient it is. The minimum ISEER required for an inverter AC to be rated as 5-star is 4.5," the statement said.

Available in cooling capacities of 5,000 watt (a little under 1.5 ton) and 3,440 W (a little under 1 ton), the Godrej ACs are priced between Rs 45,000 and Rs 55,000. Videocon has however priced its range very aggressively at Rs 43,000 (1 ton) and Rs 47,000 (1.5 ton).

Sanjeev Bakshi, COO - AC division, Videocon, said that the company is set to expand the AC portfolio to 500 products. "With the launch of inverter ACs, we are expecting the overall AC sales figures to reach up to six lakh units this year. Further, we plan to increase our overall market share in the AC segment to 15% from the current 10%," he said.

Dominated by split ACs, the current market size for ACs in India is pegged at around 4 million units and the industry is expected to grow at 15% CAGR with a penetration of about 3%. In fact, almost 90% of the market share in split AC category is held by 1 ton and 1.5 ton air conditioners. The market size of ACs in India is likely to reach 10 million units by 2020 with a penetration rate of 11%.

Royal Enfield rides into ThailandHaving recently launched in Indonesia, the world's fastest growing mid-size motorcycle brand, Royal Enfield has tied up with General Auto Supply Co Ltd to launch its first retail store in Thailand. Accordingly, complete range of the 115 years old iconic motorcycle brand, ranging from motorcycles, apparel and accessories will now be available through the exclusive store in Thonglor, Bangkok. The company has already expanded its global retail footprint across UK, Europe, Latin America, Middle-East and in South East Asia stores in Indonesia and Thailand.

According to Arun Gopal, international business head, Royal Enfield, "We believe our future growth will come from international markets such as Thailand where motorcycles are a popular medium of commuting. Our phenomenal success in India gives us the confidence to thrive in similar markets like Thailand and Indonesia, which will play an instrumental role in fuelling our growth in Asia. We see a huge potential for our evocative, all purpose, and middle-weight (250-750cc) motorcycles that will allow customers an optimum choice for upgrade."Evaporative air coolersConsumer durables company Usha International has introduced a range of evaporative air coolers that include personal coolers, tower coolers and window coolers as well as a premium range of Usha Honeywell air coolers. The new range of personal and tower coolers, company said in a statement, have been designed with dual-tone finish and packed with features like powerful airflow and dust-filter for effective and healthy cooling during peak summers. The range of personal, tower, window and desert coolers are available in capacities ranging from 19 litre to 70 litre. These are designed for use in both indoor and semi-outdoor locations and, can operate on inverter during power cuts. While the Usha air cooler range is priced Rs 6,990 onwards, the premium range starts from Rs 10,590.—Compiled by Ashish K Tiwari