Meanwhile, the company has introduced the 1.7 tonne MIL grade AC for military applications for the Indian army.

VAIL is a 50:50 joint venture between Voltas and Air International Group of Australia. Coachair is the international brand of Air International. "It could take the company around one year's time to launch Coachair in India," VAIL operations director Colin Pierce said.

The VAIL joint venture focusing on transport air conditioning is five years old and has a turnover of Rs 24 crore. Around 80 per cent of the company's business comes from the automobile AC market. The company is supplying to Tata Engineering's Indica and Sumo. The company has just supplied AC for the left-hand drive Indicas, which is being exported to Italy, and for the left-hand Tata Sumos. VAIL is currently working on AC for the new Magna model.

VAIL chief executive Ramesh Paranjpey said the company had expanded its product range and developed ACs for the defence market to reduce dependence on the automobile segment. The company expects to make around 150 to 200 units per year. "With the successful launch of this 1.7 tonne MIL AC the company is planning to work on variants including split AC and AC with three tonne capacity for military application," Parajpey said.

This AC is based on the proven design developed by Air International for the Australian army and was improved to suit Indian army's endurance and environment specification. Pierce said that Air International was keen on sourcing the 1.7 MIL grade AC from India.

This air conditioner is an import substitute for critical hi-tech application. While the imported AC costs around Rs 6-7 lakh, the indigenously-made AC costs only around Rs 4.5 lakh. The Army is establishing tactical network of communication using electronic automatic switching systems and satellites. Many of these communication centres require to be mobile so they are vehicle mounted. The systems have to be protected from varying climatic conditions and rough terrain. The Voltas Military grade AC is designed for this purpose.