The manufacturers of air conditioners experienced significant growth in revenue, with many of them seeing profits double or more during the April-June quarter due to the increased demand caused by the intense summer heat.
Leading companies such as Voltas, Blue Star, Whirlpool of India, Johnson Hitachi, and Havells, the owner of the Llyods brand, saw substantial growth in both their top-line and bottom-line, driven by record sales in the April-June period.
Voltas, a key player in the room AC segment and a part of the Tata group reported a consolidated net profit increase of over two-fold at Rs 335 crore, with its revenue from operations rising by 46.46 per cent to Rs 4,921 crore.
Voltas also reached the significant milestone of selling one million units of ACs in the first quarter of FY25, with its total income surpassing the Rs 5,000 crore mark during that period.
In the first quarter of this financial year, Voltas' revenue from "unitary cooling products for comfort and commercial use", which fall under its room AC business vertical, was up 51.24 per cent to Rs 3,802.17 crore. In the April-June period, its overall volume grew by 67 per cent in the AC segment.
"The unitary cooling products business continued to outperform the market and maintained its growth momentum," it said, adding, "Voltas continues to be a market leader both in split and window air-conditioners with an exit market share of 21.2 per cent as of June 2024.
Blue Star announced that its consolidated net profit doubled to Rs 168.76 crore, and its revenue from operations increased by 28.72 per cent to Rs 2,865.37 crore in the June quarter. The revenue from its unitary products business, comprising sales of room ACs, saw a 44.31 per cent surge to Rs 1,729.52 crore during the same period.
"With most parts of the country witnessing extremely high temperatures and an overall harsh summer, the increase in demand led to an unprecedented growth in the room air-conditioners business," it said.
Throughout the quarter, the company experienced higher demand for its inventory than expected. Despite increasing production to meet most of the additional requirements, some opportunities to fulfil the entire seasonal demand were missed, according to Blue Star.
In a similar vein, Havells announced a profit of Rs 67.39 crore for its Lloyd's business, which manages its room AC segment. This marks a significant improvement from the Rs 61.48 crore loss reported in the corresponding period last year.
Revenue from the Lloyd business, a brand acquired by Havells in 2017, surged by 47.43 per cent to reach Rs 1,924 crore.
In the earnings call, Havells management said, "heavy lifting has been done by the air-conditioner" business and it witnessed many first-time buyers of air conditioners.
"... We feel that this may trigger an inflection point for the under-penetrated AC industry," it said.
Consolidated profit at Whirlpool of India increased by 89.4 per cent to reach Rs 145.3 crore, while revenue from operations saw a 22.5 per cent rise to Rs 2,496.9 crore.
The company attributed its revenue growth to the expanding industry of refrigerators and air-conditioners, as indicated in its earnings statement.
Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India, a company that sells residential ACs under the Hitachi brand, also saw a revenue surge of over 76 percent, reaching Rs 982.29 crore in the June quarter, originating from the 'cooling products for comfort and commercial use' segment.
Sunil Vachani, President of the Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA), previously stated his expectation of annual sales volumes for room ACs to be approximately 14 million.
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