Fast moving electrical goods maker Havells India has forayed into the air-purifier segment, in a bid to grab a market share in the fast-growing segment. The company said it aims to become among the top three players in the air-purifier segment in the next three years.
Launched under the brand Freshia, the new range of room air-purifier is priced between ₹14,490 to ₹43,290 with claims of nine stage filtration process. Other features include dust sensor, front cover open protection, LED air purity indicator and ionizer.
Rajiv Kenue, Senior vice-president, Electrical Consumer Durables at Havells India said, “The room air-purifier market in India is currently small but is growing at a CAGR of 28-29 per cent. With growing awareness, the market is evolving and we believe demand will gradually build up across metros and cities at a pan-India level.”
There is growing demand for air-purifier products beyond Delhi NCR, such as Mumbai and Bengaluru as well as from smaller cities such as Meerut, Ludhiana, and Chandigarh in the northern region.
While the company had introduced air-purifiers briefly in 2016 but Kenue said this was done as part of the company's strategy to test-market its products and gain consumer insights. The company will be leveraging on its distribution network across electronics retail stores, modern format retail stores as well as the e-commerce channel.
As per industry estimates, room air purifier segment is pegged at a little over ₹300 crore in 2018 and is expected to grow to about ₹900 crore by 2023. But the competition has been intensifying with the entry of new players. “We have developed the technology in-house leveraging on the expertise of our R& D teams. We want to be among the top three players in the air-purifier segment in the next three years,” he said.
For now, the company will rely on a contract manufacturer partner to make these air-purifiers but once the business achieves scale, the company may look at manufacturing them on their own in the future.