AC major eyes 15 pc growth in biz

Increased consumer financing spends have proved to be a boon for the consumer electronics major, that counts south as its dominant market, contributing over 37 per cent of its overall revenue, said a top official.

Gaurav Sah, Business-head, AC Group, Panasonic India, said of the 9000-odd outlets in the country, over 10 per cent was concentrated in TN. “We have two branches in Chennai and Coimbatore, which manage the 1000-odd outlets,” he said.

Sah said a noticeable trend is the shift from window AC to split AC buying pattern with inverter-ACs especially, recording a surge in sales. This growth was more pronounced in south, which grew faster than rest of India. Last year, the inverter models contributed 30 pc while this year, it is to go up to 65 per cent, he said, noting that the “step jump trend” will continue.

Sah said, 50 to 60 per cent of sales is influenced by finance and this mode of purchase was on a high in south, mainly TN.

Panasonic is eyeing 15 per cent growth in AC sales to touch Rs 1,400 crore in the next fiscal driven by new premium products, he said adding the company is expected to close the current fiscal at Rs 1,220 crore.

It is also looking at over 30 per cent increase in distribution outlets for AC to 12,000 in two-years’ time. Admitting that the AC penetration is around 5 per cent in the country, Sah said the annual offtake was 10 lakh units from its manufacturing plant in Haryana.

“We not only cater to the domestic market but also export to places such as UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh,” he said. In the APAC region, covering countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, Panasonic held the dominant position, he claimed.

Sah also highlighted the brand’s over six-decade presence and AC sales of 10 crore world over, constituting Rs 21,700 crore global AC business. Of the four lakh units last year, the India business had exported 70,000 units. The export figure is expected to exceed this year.