Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co on Tuesday said it will set up a new manufacturing plant for home appliances in South India in the next four years that could entail an investment of about Rs 100 crore.
The plant will have an initial capacity of 10 lakh units annually.
“Currently we are identifying state and location in South India to set up a new plant,” said Mr George Menezes, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co, Chief Operating Officer (Godrej Appliances).
When asked about capacity, he said: “We will initially start with one million units annually, which will be expanded at a later stage.” A wide range of home appliances will be manufactured there, he added.
Asked about the investment in the new plant, he said: “We have not yet finalised the amount but any new plant of that size will take at least Rs 100 crore of investment, including the land cost.”
Currently, the firm has two plants for home appliances at Mohali in Punjab and Shirwal near Pune in Maharashtra. These plants have a total production capacity of 2.4 million units annually and manufacture various items like refrigerators, air conditioners (ACs), washing machines and microwaves.
“We have recently invested Rs 100 crore to expand our capacity to 2.4 million units at the existing locations from the earlier 1.8 million units. We keep on expanding our facilities in every two to three years,” Mr Menezes said.
Godrej Appliances today launched a new range of ‘energy efficient’ AC under its premium brand, Eon priced between Rs 35,990 and Rs 42,990. The firm had invested Rs 25 crore to set up a new line for the new range of Eon ACs.
On sales expectations, Mr Menezes said: “In 2011—12 the home appliances division expects to close the year with a turnover of Rs 1,900 crore and for the next fiscal we expect Rs 2,400 crore.”
The Eon brand that was launched in 2006 currently contributes 30 per cent of the total home appliances sales.