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Neha Kaushik

NEW DELHI, Dec. 3

FEDDERS Lloyd Corporation, a leading player in the commercial air-conditioner and refrigeration segment, is looking to emerge as a key player in the residential air conditioner market.

The company is undergoing a restructuring process. As part of the process, which will be completed by March next year, the Rs 170-crore company has divided operations into five major divisions — consumer electronics, railways/defence, chillers/central plant, transport air conditioner/refrigeration, and cold storages.

The thrust will now be on the consumer electronics market via which the company is targeting to achieve a turnover of Rs 600 crore by the year 2005.

Says Mr R. Krishnan, Chief Executive, Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd, "We have entered into an agreement with Amtron, a Government of Assam undertaking, to start a new manufacturing facility in Guwahati for room air-conditioners and the commercial production will commence from December 2002."

The plant in Assam has a capacity of 1.5 lakh units per annum and will produce window ACs, split ACs, as well as ducted split ACs. The company is currently in talks with domestic air-conditioner brands to serve as a sourcing base. Fedders Lloyd may also export from India at a later stage.

Meanwhile, the company is working out logistic issues, which might arise due to the location of the plant, and is aggressively expanding its distribution network. "The Government of Assam has given us several concessions for operating the plant", says Mr Krishnan. Though the pricing for the air-conditioners has not been finalised yet, the company says it will pass on the benefit of the concessions given by the Government to the consumer, which will make the products very competitive.

The company is also planning to expand its dealer network from 80 dealers and 250 outlets to 450 dealers and 1,000 outlets. The after sales will be taken care of by a separate arm of Fedders Lloyd called Airserco Ltd.

Also, with the increased competition in the domestic air-conditioner market, Fedders Lloyd will be aggressively focusing on brand building activities. It is currently in the process of appointing an advertising agency, to help create awareness for its air-conditioners, which will be marketed under the Lloyd brand.

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