Racold Thermo targets 10% global revenues from India
The Dollar Business Bureau
Water heater manufacturer Racold Thermo is betting big on India’s strategic market to meet its global expansion plans. It said the Indian market will contribute at least 10% to the company’s global turnover over the next four-five years.
“The group has refocused on India in the last two years and we are preparing a roadmap for the next five years. The goal is to be at least 10% of the global turnover in about four-five years," Ariston Thermo India Managing Director V Ramnath told PTI.
According to Ramnath, India contributes about mid to high single digit in percentage terms to its global revenues and the company plans to exploit the Indian water heater industry, which is slated to become a Rs.15,000 crore market over the next ten years.
The Indian water heater industry is projected to be around Rs.1,800 - 2,500 crore. The solar water heaters account for 15% of the market share, growing at 12% per annum, while electric water heaters segment holds the remaining 85% share, growing at 7-8% per annum.
"By 2017-end, we want to be present in all the towns with over one lakh population. Currently, we are covering about 10,000 retail stores and we want to move to about 14,000-15,000 stores. We have 170 service centres and want to move to about 200 by end of 2017," Ramnath said.
Racold Thermo spends 7-8% of its total revenues on marketing and is also working to establish direct online presence this year.
"We are not directly in online space but we are creating an online strategy, and will be ready for it in March or April. We want both online and offline to complement each other. We are also considering if we should have specific products for online consumers," he said.
Racold Thermo has over one-third of the market share in the overall water heater space. By 2020, Ariston Thermo group aims to have 80% of its business coming from high efficiency and renewable solutions.
Racold Thermo India, a part of the Italian firm Ariston Thermo Group, is a €1.5 billion company, having a presence in more than 150 markets. Ariston Thermo India markets, sells and services Racold products in India.
