EESL in Talks with Banks to Replace Old Air Conditioners
EESL is in talks with mobile wallets and
banks to help the consumers to replace old air conditioners at zero upfront
payment
India: The
state-run Energy Efficiency Services
Limited (EESL) is now discussing with mobile wallets and banks in order to help
consumers replace their old air conditioners at zero upfront payment. Further, EESL is also discussing with
manufacturers like Blue Star, Voltas, Daikin, Godrej, Panasonic and Whirlpool
to make superefficient ACs which should be more effective than the five-star
rated ACs presently available in the market.
ESSL will
order the first lot of around two lakh ACs by March and the plan is to offer
these ACs on three year EMIs (Equated Monthly Installments) to the consumers, who
in return would get their investments back by saving around 30-40% money in
their electricity bills. EESL would also raise funds from the market for this
program and the borrowing plans include USD220.05 million from the
domestic market around USD100 million through 'masala bonds' and in the coming
years USD900 million from multilateral agencies. The company is planning to tie-up with
mobile wallets such as Paytm and banks to procure these ACs through auctions which
would be distributed to the consumers through EMI schemes.
Further,
EESL is expecting that procurement of more ACs will lead to the decreasing
prices which happened during the LED replacement program, under which, the first
lot of LEDs were available at USD4.40 per unit. ATMs, Banks, Government offices
and the commercial complexes are major users of air conditioners and India. EESL
is planning to make an offer to banks also for replacing the ACs in ATMs and
for the same, banks do not have to make any upfront payment to pay EMIs for two
to three years. This would save 30-40% money on their power bills that would
help them finance the EMIs.
According to TechSci Research, the program initiated by EESL along with
the AC manufacturing companies such as Blue Star, Voltas, Daikin, Godrej,
Panasonic and Whirlpool, will boost the demand for ACs with superefficient
technologies which would have an efficiency ratio of 5.2. Introduction of superefficient
ACs will not only reduce the energy bills but will also reduce the energy
demand by 30% and these ACs are anticipated to be the future of India.
According to a recent report published
by TechSci Research, “India
Air Conditioners Market
Forecast & Opportunities, 2011–2021”, the air conditioners market in
India is anticipated to cross US$ 6 Billion by the end of 2021. Light
commercial air conditioners segment dominated the country’s air conditioners
market in 2015, and the segment is anticipated to maintain its dominance over
the next five years as well, owing to their various advantages such as energy
efficiency, lower running cost, easy availability and integration of latest technologies.
Southern states in India generates the highest revenue from air conditioners in
the country, followed by northern states. Few of the leading players operating
in India air conditioners market includes Voltas, LG, Daikin, Samsung, Blue
Star and Hitachi, among others.
According to another report published by
TechSci Research, “India
LED Lighting Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 -
2021”, LED lighting
market in India is projected to register a CAGR of over 30% during 2016-2021,
due to increasingly affordable prices of LED lights coupled with implementation
of LED bulbs distribution scheme by the government of India at subsidized
rates. Demand for LED lights in India is predominantly concentrated in the South
and North regions due to high population density, increasing urbanization,
rising number of government initiatives that encourage use of LED lights, etc.
In 2015, LED lighting market in India was dominated by LED bulbs and lamps,
followed by LED batten lights; and this trend is forecast to continue through
2021. Philips, Surya Roshni, Havells, Syska LED and Osram are few of the
leading players in India LED lighting market. Outdoor lighting applications,
which includes street lights, lights in parks, traffic lights, garage lights,
parking lots and other public places, accounted for a majority revenue share in
India LED lighting market in 2015.