Voltas Room Air Conditioner business grows 30%, Company ramps up with aggressive new product range

• Launches a range of energy-efficient " Star-rated" ACs
• Growth of 30% in units sold in 2006/07
• Earmarks Rs.20 crores as advertising spends

Voltas Limited, India's premier airconditioning and engineering services company of the Tata group, announced a growth of over 30% in sales of its Room Air Conditioning business. Mr.Sanjay Johri, COO of the Unitary Products Business Group of Voltas, said that sales volume had jumped from around 2,00,000 units in 2005/06 to over 2,60,000 units in 2006/07, ahead of the industry growth rate of 20%.

Voltas has also taken the lead in complying with the government's energy efficiency-labeling program, by launching India's first full range of Star Rate Air Conditioners. The portfolio includes Star-Rated AC models, both Splits and Windows, ranging form high-rated 5-star units for the discerning buyer, to basic 1-star models for the mass consumer. Mr.Johri explained that the higher rated models would be priced a bit higher, but would recover the higher initial cost for the consumer through savings in electricity cost within the year. He also said that these products would thus not only conform to the Energy Efficiency requirements of Bureau of Energy Efficiency but would benefit the user in terms of energy saving as compared to an unlabelled product. Voltas have thus launched a total of 17 new models this year.

Behind the success of Voltas products is a winning combination: the right technology-led features, market-sensitive pricing, focus on service and smart consumer-friendly positioning. This combination has transformed the present image and future prospects of the brand. With the current year's campaign "India Ka Dil, India Ka AC", Voltas appeals to the pride of Indians in the new emerging India, a booming economy and the feeling that India has now emerged on the global stage. It is in completed contrast to the feature-led advertising strategy followed by other Air Conditioning and Consumer Durable Marketers and is, for that resaon, all the more successful in getting a big share of mind in this crowded place.

Voltas products are not only comparable with the best in terms of features and reliability, but also give high cooling and low running costs. Voltas is investing around 2.0 percent of its turnover today in beefing service infrastructure, just to give the best service experience to our customer. With a target of achieving 20% market share, the company has also put in place an aggressive distribution strategy to increase the number of channel partners from the current 3000 to about 4000 next year.

Exhilarated by the success of Voltas in 2006/07, Mr.Johri said that Voltas was targeting to achieve a growth rate of over 30% in 2007/08, much in excess of the expected market growth rate. "Our endeavor has been to make ACs available at affordable prices for every middle-class household in the country and the launch of an AC below the price point of Rs.10000 three years back was a step in this direction. We have now introduced energy-efficient, Star-Rated ACs in order to provide a power-saving, more efficient option that is particularly relevant in these days of power shortage in India. This is how Voltas seeks to provide solutions for households in a cost-effective manner.

Source : Equity Bulls

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