In good news for customers looking to buy fans, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has postponed the star rating programme for ceiling fans to January 1, 2022. Originally slated to be implemented from July 1, 2020, this would have increased fan prices by 2-10 percent.
Industry bodies like Indian Fans Manufacturers Association (IFMA) as well as companies had requested for a postponement in star ratings, amidst economic uncertainty due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The idea here was to Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will make it mandatory for ceiling fans to have star ratings. Similar to products like air conditioners and refrigerators, the proposal was to make a star rating system for fans from July 1.
Energy-efficient fans would have meant a direct impact on the fan prices in the market. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a lockdown across the country since March 25, companies had said star-rating would mean additional cost pressure on customers.
In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Atul Jain, chairman of IFMA and executive vice president, Orient Electric said fan is considered a basic product with almost 1 billion Indians using the product.
“Fans are reasonably priced and a star rating would have meant an immediate cost increase. With COVID-19 lockdown leading to salary cuts and job losses, a price increase in fans would have adversely impacted customers. Hence, it is a good decision to postpone the star rating programme,” he added.
BEE is a statutory body under the power ministry that is responsible for reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy. It has developed the energy ‘labeling’ initiative as a cost-effective policy tool for improving energy efficiency and lowering energy cost of appliances/equipment for the consumers.
For fans, the star rating initiative was to promote energy efficiency. Higher the star rating, more is the power savings. Fans would be rated from one star to five stars.
Also read: Orient Electric launches power-saving products
Jain also explained that amidst the virus spread, commercial establishments have also been using fans for cross ventilation to minimise COVID-19.
Firms like Orient Electric, Havells, Bajaj Electricals and Crompton Greaves Consumer are large players in the ceiling fans space.
While the industry had been informed about the star rating programmes for fans earlier this year, Jain said that the lockdown led to an almost three-month production closure.
“We had begun the execution for the new category of fans but the approval process and the star rating by authorised government labs also take time,” he said.
The fan market in India today is worth Rs 12,000 crore. The organised market would be close to Rs 7,500 crores and is expected to record compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 percent over the next five years. Every year, about 65 million fans are sold in India.
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