MAM
Crompton Greaves eyes growth in air cooler market
MUMBAI: Come summer and fans and air conditioner category has its sleeves rolled up to create brand visibility and awareness. It is the time when sales boost up by at least 3 times for fans, air conditioners and coolers.
This summer, another electrical company has launched its new products in the category, the brand – Crompton Greaves. A legendary brand in India since 1878, the company recently unrelieved its ‘Air 360’ fan and the ‘Tricool’ window cooler.
In 2016, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd (CGCEL) decided to demerge itself from its consumer business to form a separate entity. That’s when the brand decided to target younger consumers in order to keep up with changing times. The company manufactures and markets a wide spectrum of consumer products, ranging from fans, lamps and luminaries, to pumps and household appliances such as water heaters, air coolers, kitchen appliances, etc. Crompton has steadily grown at the rate of 30 per cent year-on-year over the last few years.
Keeping in mind the consumer need of fanning a larger area, Crompton has launched its new range of fans which have a unique elevated blade design that claims to deliver air to over 50 per cent more room space than regular fans. Targeted at the urban youth, the fans are semi-premium (lower end of the premium) and are priced between Rs 2375-Rs 2575. Crompton’s market share in fans category was only 24 per cent in 2016 but has now reached 28 per cent and 90 per cent of the gain in market share is due to the company’s premium fans range. But, the company still faces stiff completion from Havells, Orient, Usha and Bajaj in the category.
The company also launched its new window cooler which claims to deliver 60 per cent better cooling than a standard plastic cooler and is priced at Rs 12500. The new range of coolers and fans will be available at leading counters in select markets. Although it is a tough and cluttered business, CGCEL CEO Mathew Job says that south India is the company’s strongest market in terms of market share for fans category. But that isn’t the case for coolers. The company only has a small market share in the category but wants to expand it in the coming years.
The average television spends, which were at a mere Rs 8-10 crore prior to the demerger, has now swelled to Rs 50-60 crore annually, which is roughly two per cent of the company’s total annual revenue. Since the ads have been launched during Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Job says the company will adopt a robust marketing strategy and will spend big on television as it helps in building awareness for this category. Although the campaign broke on IPL, it will expand to other general entertainment and news channels in the coming weeks. This will be eventually followed up by digital and in-store marketing.
Crompton has a strong dealer base across the country and a wide service network that offers robust after sales service to its consumers. The company’s distribution has increased from 50 per cent in 2016 to now being 80 per cent across India. By 2016, Crompton fans were available only in 40 per cent of the stores across India but are now available in over 60 per cent of stores across the nation.
Though an age-old brand, the company is coming up with ways to entice the younger customers and stay relevant to them using modern marketing techniques.
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Brands
Trump announces $300bn Texas oil refinery with Reliance, calls it the biggest in US history
First new US refinery in 50 years planned at Brownsville port with Reliance
WASHINGTON: The United States may soon see the first brand-new oil refinery built on its soil in half a century.
Donald Trump announced a proposed $300 billion refinery project in Texas, calling it a landmark moment for American energy production and jobs.
Posting on Truth Social on 10 March, Trump said the facility would be built at the Port of Brownsville and developed by a company called America First Refining, with major investment from India’s Reliance Industries.
The announcement frames the project as a centrepiece of the administration’s push for “energy dominance”, with Trump claiming it would deliver thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity to South Texas.
If realised, the plant would mark the first all-new major refinery constructed in the United States since the 1970s. In recent decades, oil companies have largely chosen to expand existing facilities rather than build new ones, citing high costs, regulatory hurdles and environmental scrutiny.
Trump described the proposed investment as the “biggest in US history”, positioning it as proof that policy changes such as streamlined permits and lower taxes are drawing large-scale energy investments back into the country.
The refinery is planned for the Port of Brownsville, a strategic Gulf Coast location that provides easy access to shipping routes and export markets.
A key partner in the project is Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The company already runs the world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar, India, making it one of the most experienced operators in large-scale petroleum processing.
The Texas venture would mark a significant step for the group into America’s domestic refining sector, potentially strengthening industrial ties between the US and India.
The proposed refinery is being promoted as a next-generation facility capable of processing American shale oil while maintaining high environmental standards. Trump said it would be “the cleanest refinery in the world”, although the specific technologies behind that claim have not yet been detailed.
Industry observers also note that the $300 billion figure is unusually large for a refinery project, and analysts are waiting for more clarity on whether the number reflects total construction costs, long-term infrastructure investment, or broader economic impact estimates.
As of 11 March, Reliance Industries had not publicly confirmed the investment size or the structure of its involvement.
For now, the announcement has sparked equal parts excitement and curiosity in energy markets. If the plan moves from promise to pouring concrete, the refinery could reshape the Gulf Coast energy landscape, and reopen a chapter in American refining that has been quiet for nearly fifty years.
