Near absence of rains in northern parts of the country and consequently extended summer has come as a blessing to air conditioner manufacturers who had witnessed poor sales last year because of the early onset of monsoons.
While LG Electronics India has registered 40% jump in sales of air conditioners in the second quarter (April-June) this year vis-?-vis the same quarter last year, its sales of refrigerators has gone up by 37% in the last three months. Its close rival Samsung India Electronics has also seen its sales of ACs going up by 20% in the first six months of 2009 and a good part of it has come in Q2.
?Increasing mercury and a poor monsoon has swelled the demand for consumer electronics like air conditioners and refrigerators this year,? says Moon B Shin, managing director, LG Electronics India, adding that the company?s apt marketing strategy and new range of products has helped boost sales this time. The company is expected to have registered total sales of Rs 685 crore in second quarter of 2009 as against Rs 500 crore in 2008.
According to industry estimates around 70% sales of air conditioners comes during the March to June period and the total AC market currently stands at 2.2-2.4 million units a year. While north India constitutes over 40% to the total sales of air conditioners in the country followed by South at 28%, West at 22% and Eastern India at 10-11%.
?The AC sales have extended this time as compared to last year when it got completely washed out because of early rains in north India and the growth has been robust in the second quarter because of intense heat,? says Samsung India deputy managing director R Zutshi .
?Buying of air conditioners is largely an impulse purchase and with no rains in sight people are shelling out on air conditioners even in July which has always been a lean month for ACs,? says an industry expert. According to him, the high growth rate this year is also due to the lower base of last year when sales had fallen by as much as 30%.
