Daikin lays foundation stone of its upcoming third manufacturing facility at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh

Daikin India on Thursday said it has laid down the foundation stone of its upcoming third manufacturing facility at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, in which the air-conditioner maker would invest Rs 1,000 crore in the first phase.

This new factory would be ready for commercial production in 2023, and would elevate Daikin India to become the largest manufacturer of Air-conditioners (ACs) in India, according to a company statement.

Daikin plans to manufacture Air-conditioners and crucial components such as compressors at this plant for which Daikin has got approval from the government under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme.

"This factory of Daikin India will serve the growing domestic & international demand with its cutting-edge products," Daikin said, adding that this unit would serve the export markets such as West Africa, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Middle East, South America and East Africa.

Daikin India is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Japan-based Daikin Industries, world's leading air-conditioning company. "Our long-term strategy is to operate with an agile set-up to swiftly react and adapt to dynamic market requirements by enhancing capacities and R&D capabilities. All this makes Sri City factory strategically very important for us. It is going to be a manufacturing marvel having all Industry 4.0 digitization standards," Daikin India Chairman & MD K J Jawa said.

With AC penetrations still at 7 per cent in India, there is considerable potential for market expansion and growth, he said. "With India's status of a reliable manufacturing destination with favourable policies and ease of doing business affirmed by the government of India's PLI Scheme, Daikin India is perfectly poised to take advantage of the demand explosion predicted over the next 5-10 years. The augmented production capacity and sustained investments will ensure Daikin India continues to dominate the AC industry," it said.

According to Industry sources, Daikin has so far invested over Rs 2,000 crore in India to set up its two factories and one Research and development (R&D) centre at Neemrana, Rajasthan.