India’s air conditioner makers are expecting a sales boom as historic heat, and forecasts of more hot weather to come, boosts demand for cooling systems.
Blue Star Ltd. expects as much as 30% growth over the summer, with a significant increase in sales in smaller cities, Managing Director B Thiagarajan said in an interview. “People are buying ACs as they are getting used to it at a number of places like hospitals, shopping malls and restaurants, and feel they need it.”
Despite regular heat waves, very few Indian households have an air conditioner — just 10% compared with 68% of Chinese and 38% of Thai homes, according to consultancy EY.
But accelerating urbanization coupled with more frequent bouts of intense, and deadly, heat is fueling demand for cooling solutions in defiance of a broader consumption slowdown. India is expected to have about 240 million air conditioning units in 2030, up from 93 million last year, the International Energy Agency estimates.
Poor ventilation and cramped urban housing can exacerbate indoor heat, which is also driving sales, Thiagarajan said. About 40% of sales last year were purchased through consumer financing solutions, such as credit and ‘buy now, pay later’ options, he said.
Meanwhile, India’s affluent are buying more tech-focused systems that are wi-fi enabled or operated by voice command, he said.
Tata Group-owned Voltas Ltd. expects last year’s strong demand to continue, Chief Executive Officer Pradeep Bakshi said in an email. It’s looking to push beyond India’s tier-2 and tier-3 cities and expand sales in remote and rural parts of the country, he said.
The company’s volumes grew 35% between April 2024 and January 2025, beating the industry, Nomura Holdings Inc. analysts Siddhartha Bera and Kapil Singh wrote in a note this month. Its shares are up about 30% over the past year, while Blue Star has surged surged more than 70% in the period.
Most parts of the country are likely to see more days of heat waves than usual in the three months ending May 31, the India Meteorological Department said last month. That follows its second-warmest February in more than a century. India typically experiences hotter weather in the lead up to the monsoon season, which starts in June.
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