The Hindu Business Line : Consumer durables from China set to make a splash

First, it was TCL Overseas Holdings Ltd making a re-entry into the Indian market and now it is GZITIC Hualing Group, another player in the category, making an attempt to capture the Indian consumers' heart.

The ever-increasing demand in the domestic market for products like air-conditioners, television sets and refrigerators has made the Chinese companies sit up and take notice of the Indian market.

GZITIC Hualing Group has already appointed a dealer in Mumbai to sell products such as air-conditioners and refrigerators. "The Indian economy is improving and in the next three to five years Chinese enterprises can get a big share of the Indian market," the company's sales representative in-charge of the Asian Market, Ms Alice Tu, told Business Line.

The company is looking at a three-stage approach to capture a larger part of the market. In the first phase, Hualing plans to import products in a completely knocked down (CKD) condition and move to importing products in a semi-knocked down (SKD) condition to sell in the domestic market in the second phase. And, in the third phase, the company will look at setting up a production base in the country.

Hualing is likely to introduce both its products - air-conditioners and refrigerators — simultaneously. Commenting on the pricing of the products, Ms Tu said that the products would be competitively priced. Currently, a one-tonne window air-conditioner of the company is priced at around Rs 16,500, while refrigerators are also priced "close to the prevailing market price in India".

When asked about the investment plans of the company, Ms Tu said it was too early to comment. On the issue of after-sales service, she said that the dealer would be fully equipped to handle any consumer complaints.

Another Chinese company studying the domestic market is Jiangsu Banshen Electrical Appliances Company Ltd, which is keen to sell deep-freezers, apart from air-conditioners here.

Meanwhile, the domestic industry officials feel that trading in India is not going to be competitive. "Anybody who is manufacturing in India will succeed," sources said.

On the pricing of the Chinese products, the officials said, "if the prices are low they might initially lure the consumers away from the grey market. But in the long run, it will be those players who are serious that will succeed."

The current air-conditioner market size in India is 7.75 lakh units while that of refrigerators is between 3.3 million units and 3.4 million units.

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