Voltas plans to set-up a manufacturing hub in South India

Voltas, a Tata Group company and leading air-conditioner manufacturer, is now exploring to have a new manufacturing hub in South as the company believes domestic manufacturing will play an important role going ahead.

Commenting on the air-conditioning industry, Voltas Managing Director and CEO Pradeep Bakshi said he expects it to “de-grow by almost 30 per cent” this year, due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, which disrupted sales during the peak summer season starting from March. The company expects the market to pick up in the remaining four weeks of the summer season largely due to late arrival of summer.

While the consumer durables business has slowed down, the projects division that accounts for nearly 45 per cent of our turnover, was in operation at most of the customer sites that cater to essential services.

In the previous month, Voltas reported 12.52 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at ₹159.50 crore in the March quarter. Its income was up 1.41 per cent to ₹ 2,150.09 crore.

Besides, the company also expects demand for kitchen and home appliances products which includes dishwashers, dryers, microwave ovens, to go up in the post COVID-19 scenario.

Voltas is operating across 260 customer sites in India to support infrastructure like hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Moreover, its international projects business across Middle East and Singapore have remained operational throughout this period.