Godrej & Boyce will invest Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) to set up a refrigerator manufacturing facility near Pune and expects to clock a turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the current fiscal.
"We would invest Rs 80 to 100 crore (Rs 800 million to Rs 1 billion) to set up a new frost-free refrigerator manufacturing facility which would double our existing capacity for the product," Godrej & Boyce Chief Operating Officer George Menezes told reporters in New Delhi.
The company has a present capacity of 3.5 lakh frost-free refrigerators per annum and the new facility, to be operational by late-2007, would take up its annual capacity to about seven lakh units, he said.
Godrej & Boyce, which launched its new range of frost-free refrigerators today, controls 12 per cent of the domestic market share and plans to double it within six months to 25 per cent with the launch of the new range.
The company has two manufacturing facilities in Mohali, Punjab and Shirwol and Pune and has a combined direct-cool and frost-free refrigerator capacity of 10 lakh per annum. It controls 20 per cent share in the combined market for refrigerators.
"The frost-free market is expected to almost double by 2009 and would occupy a dominant position in the refrigerator market. This upswing has motivated us to set up the new unit which would help us cater to the increased demand for such a product," Menezes said.
The two models with different capacities have been priced in between Rs 16,000 and Rs 26,000, he added.
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