Split air-conditioners feel the heat in Punjab

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 19

Punjab is a lone ranger when it comes to sales of window air-conditioners. Bucking the national trend, over 33% of the air- conditioners sold in the state are window models — the highest in the country as compared to the national average of 10-12%. The room air-conditioner market in India is dominated by split air conditioners, which command 88-90% market share.

States such as Kerala and Karnataka have almost negligible sales of window air-conditioners.  

“The total room air-conditioner market is pegged at around 3 lakh units in Punjab. Ludhiana dominates the market with sale of 75,000 units followed by Jalandhar (45,000) and Amritsar  (40,000). Out of total sales, the contribution of window air-conditioners is nearly one lakh units, which is over 33% of the total market — the highest in the country,” said CP Mukundan Menon, president (Sales & Marketing), Product Business, Blue Star Limited.

“There are a couple of reasons behind popularity of window air- conditioners in the state such as space left in the buildings or apartments for fixation of window air-conditioners, replacement market and high blast of air as compared to split air-conditioners,” said Menon. 

Split ACs can be installed on any wall in your house while window ACs require casement windows. To be sure, the owners of older homes prefer window units to avoid the installation work.

“Around 30% of the consumers ask for window air-conditioners. The low price of window air-conditioners is also one of the reasons for their preference. Besides, those who are living in rented accommodation prefer window units as these are easier to shift as compared to split counterparts,” said Ludhiana-based Ladhar AC and Ref Sales proprietor Karamjeet Singh Ladher. 

The total room air-conditioner market for Haryana (including Gurgaon, Faridabad) is around 3 lakh units and in Chandigarh around 75,000 units. The share of window air-conditioners is around 20% each here.

Overall, the domestic room air-conditioner market is around 55 lakh units per annum. Out of this, the split air-conditioners dominate the market with a lion’s share of 88-90%. Annually, around 48.5 lakh split and 6.5 lakh window air-conditioners are sold in the country.

Nationally, split units have gained popularity, owing to their advantages in terms of aesthetics, though installation is a bit more cumbersome. The manufacturers have been fuelling this trend by offering a strong product portfolio in terms of split ACs.

Last year, the industry posted a negative growth of around 3%. The industry anticipates that sales will grow over 10% this summer based on early sales trend and forecast by the India Meteorological Department.

The Indian air-conditioning market is divided into two major segments — commercial air conditioners (VRF, chillers and others) and room air-conditioners (split and window air- conditioners).

Air-conditioner market 

3 lakh units  Annual sale of ACs in Punjab 

Over 33%  Share of window ACs 

55 lakh units  National AC market 

10-12%    National average (window ACs)