The Japanese major is all set to enhance the company’s manufacturing capability in India, with the commissioning of the ?600-crore facility at Neemrana in Rajasthan later during the year from 500,000 to 1.2 million units per annum. Kanwal Jeet Jawa, Managing Director, Daikin Air-conditioning India, said: “We are bullish on the Indian market and have invested heavily into manufacturing, retail and skilling people, to tap the huge potential in the Indian market whose AC penetration is about 3 per cent. We believe it is at an inflection point and once the numbers go past the 5 per cent mark, the market will boom.” In an exclusive interaction with BusinessLine, Jawa said Daikin has seen a robust growth of over 40 per cent in the nine months ended December 31, 2016 with a turnover of ?2,750 crore, up from ?2,200 crore last fiscal. “We expect to grow by
about 20 per cent to over ?3,500 crore next fiscal,” he said. Daikin has invested heavily in Indian operations beginning with ?1,100 crore in 2008-09 for a 5,00,000 per annum facility and followed this up with ?600 crore investment for a new manufacturing plant with a capacity of 1.2 million units per annum and another ?100 crore for research and development centre. Jawa said that 2016 ended on a positive note with the company achieving a market share of over 15 per cent in room AC sales, 60 per cent in VRVs (which is more than what five competitors sell together) and 30 per cent in chillers.

(Source: The Hindu, January 5, 2017)