The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, FEB 11, 2021
Blue Star Limited aims at doubling its sales from the commercial refrigeration segment in the next three years as the company is witnessing an uptick in demand for its products in the segment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Blue Star Managing Director B Thiagarajan, the pandemic has created an opportunity for the segment that has become important because of the government’s spending on vaccination and healthcare infrastructure besides others as agri infrastructure, Aatmanirbhar Bharat and food processing. Moreover, food delivery is also creating an opportunity for the segment.
“We are a big beneficiary of that. We already are the market leader there and hold close to 30 per cent in the commercial refrigeration and it has the potential to double within three years. That is the reason we are launching new products,” Thiagarajan told media persons during a virtual press meet today.
When asked about the market size of the commercial refrigeration industry, Thiagarajan said that excluding the transport refrigeration of the commercial segment, the total market size is estimated to be around Rs 3,000 crore.
“The market would become around Rs 5,000 – 6,000 crore in next three years and we would also double it,” he said, adding that Blue Star has a size of Rs 1,000 crore in the segment, and it may touch Rs 2,000 crore in three years.
With an eye on storing vaccines across the country in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic and subsequent inoculation programme, Blue Star expanded its product portfolio today by introducing Ice Lined Refrigerators and Vaccine Transporters, which are ideal for storing vaccines.
Ice-lined refrigerators (+2°C to +8°C temperature) are among the temperature-controlled refrigerators and transporters launched by the company. These refrigerators will be ideal for vaccination programmes as they can maintain temperature even without power for up to 48 hours, protecting the jabs from getting spoilt during power cuts.
Vaccine transporters (+8°C to -20°C temperature) will help in ferrying vaccines to remote corners of the country by working off the battery of any four-wheeled vehicle.
Blue Star has around 70 per cent market share in the pharmaceutical and healthcare segments with product categories such as modular cold rooms, medical freezers, ultra-low temperature freezers, pharma refrigerators, and blood bank refrigerators.
“We expect that between September 2020 to September 2021 around Rs 250 crore investment would take place and we have already received Rs 75 crore worth orders and expect to receive another Rs 75 crore in next six months,” said Thiagarajan.
Post Covid-19, Blue Star has been witnessing an uptick in demand for its commercial refrigeration products and solutions from across the above mentioned segments and especially from the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare segments. The increase in demand is expected to continue further, and this combined with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat push, will unfold enormous opportunities for Blue Star.
Apart from the vaccine centred refrigerators, the company also announced the launch of touchless storage water coolers and softpush bottled water dispensers.
The company, with a capital expenditure of Rs 130 crore, is in the process of setting up a new plant at its existing facility in Wada (Maharashtra) to expand the manufacturing capacity of deep freezers and storage water coolers to cater to the rising demand for commercial refrigeration products as well as leverage on Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
“With the new plant, Blue Star will be doubling its production capacity for deep freezers. This new plant will have a capacity to produce around 2,00,000 deep freezers and 1,00,000 storage water coolers per annum. It is in the advanced stages of completion and is likely to be commissioned towards the end of this year,” said Thiagarajan.
