ETA General (P) Ltd, manufacturer of 'General' brand of air-conditioners, will focus on the premium segment of AC market to drive growth and targets to garner 20 per cent market share in the country in the next five years.
"The premium segment in the air-conditioning market has been recording a very high growth in the last few years. Our focus will be on this segment both in the domestic and commercial sectors," ETA General Pvt Ltd's CEO M Ejazuddin said.
"Our high capacity products like Variable Refrigerant Flow System will drive the growth of the company in the near future," he added.
The company recently launched 'S' series in VRF model and will soon launch another series in this segment.
It expects VRF and 'ductables' to contribute 30 per cent of the targeted turnover of Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) during 2005-06. In 2004-05, it reported a sales turnover of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).
"Our goal is to achieve a 20 per cent market share in the next five years and be one of the major players in India," added Ejazuddin.
ETA General, a 60:40 joint venture of ETA Ascon Group Dubai and Fujitsu General, Japan, has a share of 5 per cent in the Indian AC market. In the last four years of its operations, it has sold over 120,000 'General' ACs in Indian market where it currently offers 20 models.
Currently, the home segment contributes about 60 per cent to the total turnover of ETA General and the commercial sector accounts for the remaining 40 per cent. "We expect higher growth in the home sector in the future," Ejazuddin said.
"Window ACs account for 70 per cent and split ones for remaining 30 per cent in the home sector. We see immense growth potential in the split AC segment," he said.
The company has manufacturing facility near Pondicherry with capacity to produce 100,000 units per year. It manufactures window and split ACs at the Pondicherry unit, while other products are imported from the plant at Thailan, he said.
Referring to premium segment products of ETA, DGM, marketing, Suresh Kumar Bandi, said the high performance compressors and advanced refrigerant flow control technology in VRF air-conditioners would result in a power saving of about 40 per cent and low operating noise.
The Chennai-headquartered company aims a 10 per cent market share in VRF and three per cent in ductables to start with and reach 30 per cent and 15 per cent by 2009.
Director, Fujitsu General (Asia) Pte Ltd, Katsunori Kazaoka, who was on a visit to Chennai, said India was a highly focussed market for Fujitsu.
"India is number one in terms of growth compared to other Asian countries," he said, adding that the AC penetration level is very less and therefore, offers tremendous opportunities.
ETA is also discussing to set up an R & D unit in India, said Kazaoka.
It has a network of 400 sales and service points in the country.