US-based air conditioning major Carrier will begin production of residential air conditioners in India in Q4 of current calendar year at their upcoming facility in Bawal, Haryana.
The facility will have annual capacity of one million units.
Earlier this year, it had forged a joint venture with Chinese home appliance maker Midea for making residential ACs. Post the joint venture, Carrier India looks after commercial air conditioning and Carrier Midea owns residential air conditioning. Carrier will is invest Rs 100 crore by the year-end in the joint venture.
“Carrier has a strong pan-India distribution network, technology and manufacturing capabilities while Midea, with its sourcing and manufacturing expertise in air conditioning systems, will help scale up the operations,” said Gaurang Pandya, Managing Director, Carrier India.
The joint venture would be producing under two different brand names — one would be in the premium segment under the Carrier brand and the other would be in the mass market segment, branding for which is yet to be decided.
“Residential air conditioning segment is 60-75 per cent of the total market. Its penetration in India is only 3-5 per cent and here lies the rationale for us to venture into this market. Here too, like our commercial air conditioning business, we would be playing on the energy efficiency plank,” added Pandya.
Midea owns 60 per cent of the venture which will invest up to Rs 500 crore over the next five to six years.