Symphony taking lead in Indian I&C air-cooling business

September 13, 2013 5:41 am

“Symphony is the first and only branded player with a nationwide presence in I&C air-cooling business,” emphasises Achal Bakeri, Chairman and MD, Symphony Ltd.Started with residential cooling products, Symphony is creating its name in the industrial and commercial air-coolers market. Why did you feel the need for this transformation?A couple of decades back, we entered the highly unorganised home air-cooler business in India to make Symphony a national brand and a generic name for home air coolers. Similarly, today there is a huge potential for a branded player in the largely unorganised industrial and commercial (I&C) air-cooling market in the country, and Symphony is taking the lead in catering to this large unmet demand.Most industries need a cooling solution, and air conditioning is ruled out as it is just not possible to have in factory spaces open to air as well as due to its high installation costs and very high running costs. Air cooling is best suited for factories and large commercial complexes that can never be air conditioned. Besides, air cooling is eco-friendly, consumes very less power (only 10 per cent of air conditioning) and works very well in open spaces.Some local factory owners end up buying locally assembled industrial air coolers and face a lot of problems like rusting, poor performance and constant breakdowns. The Indian industrial and commercial (I&C) air-cooling business is a virgin market with a huge potential. Through a global acquisition in the US, Symphony has acquired one of the world’s leading I&C air-cooling companies. We are now going to utilise the global expertise of its American subsidiary to aggressively tap the Indian corporate’s manufacturing facilities as well as the large format retail outlets along with large commercial complexes.With the inclusion of products under I&C air-coolers segment, what are the additional markets you are looking at?Symphony is world leader in evaporative air cooler; we have presence in over 60 countries across the globe and plan to expand over 100 countries over the next few years. Symphony’s heavy-duty industrial air coolers are manufactured in Impco’s state-of-the-art plant. These industrial air coolers provide cost-efficient, eco-friendly cooling solutions for industrial and commercial applications. Symphony is the only company to offer machine-made, engineered, modular units with cooling capacity ranging from 3,000-60,000CFM. These units are made from automotive steel with plastisol coating and polybond powder-based coating that prevents corrosion and ensures durability.Symphony’s industrial air coolers are designed to provide superior performance in warm workplace settings. It is ideal for factories, offices, schools, malls, assembly halls, warehouses and metro stations, among others. These coolers improve working conditions, leading to increased worker morale, productivity, attendance and performance.Symphony’s products have been endorsed by a number of corporate giants; namely, General Electric, Wal-Mart Stores, Lear Corporation, Jamarat Complex and more than 100 supermarkets in Mexico.Symphony has executed industrial air-cooling projects for the stores of retail majors like Wal-Mart, Sears and Home Depot in the Americas. In India, Symphony has done air-cooling projects for industrial units of Maruti, Nestle, Hero Group, Asahi Glass and many others.The company has also done air-cooling projects for religious institutions like Baba Ramdev, ISCKON and the Swaminarayan sect.As there are many multinational players already exist, how competitive is the market in India?Symphony is the first and only branded player with a nationwide presence in I&C air-cooling business. There is no competition for Symphony as the only other option for industries is locally assembled machines which are inefficient and with poor workmanship. All Symphony products are well engineered, made of automotive steel with seven-stage powder coating in state-of-the-art plant in the North America. All industrial air coolers from Symphony are machine-made modular units.Over the years, India has become a hub for global investors. How did the globalisation help the Indian industry?Globalisation has benefited the Indian industry in multiple ways: opened global markets for them, enabled them to build world-class quality products at highly competitive rates, significant improvement in management of manpower etc. Symphony decided to go global after the Impco acquisition in the US, and today it is one of the few home-grown Indian companies which are selling its products under its own brand name in over 60 countries.According to you, would it be necessary to regulate the entry of MNCs into certain industrial sectors?The answer would vary from industry to industry, and it would not be right to give a general statement. Regulating the entry of MNCs may be required only if their entry is going to kill or completely eliminate domestic players and lead to a monopolistic market condition.