Haier India targets Rs 1,500 crore sales, top-5 entry

COIMBATORE: Buoyed by the huge increase in sales last year, home appliances and consumer electronics company Haier India is targeting Rs 1,500 crore in revenues for 2011 and wants to be among the top-5 brands in the country in the next three years.
Haier India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the China-based Haier Group, has about 8% market share in refrigerators, consumer electronics, air conditioners and washing machines now.Its sales grew nearly 140% to Rs 825 crore in 2010. “We expect to cross last year’s sales by this June itself," said Eric Braganza, president, Haier India.
Haier should gain at least 10% market share and clock Rs 4,500 crore in revenues to make an entry into the top-5 league in three years, he said. Since the company is not getting enough space to display its entire range of products at multi-brand outlets , it is opening ‘Haier Experience Centres’ across the country. Haier, which has 180 centres now, plans to have 300 such exclusive outlets by the end of the year.
Since demand is growing rapidly the company is expanding production of refrigerators at its Ranjangaon plant near Pune for which Rs 100 crore had been committed in 2010. Production of refrigerators would grow twofold to 1 million units a year in the current year and to 1.5 million units in 2012, Braganza, who was here to open an exclusive centre, said. TNN