In response to an unrelenting heatwave sweeping across most parts of India, air-conditioning manufacturers are airlifting essential components to meet the unprecedented surge in demand.
Industry players report that compressors, cross flow fans/motors, and PCB circuits are being imported via air freight from global suppliers in countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan, to ensure continuous production and maintain supply lines, as traditional ocean freight deliveries are too slow to keep up.
Some companies have raised prices by 4-5% to offset the rising costs of metals like copper and aluminum, impacting consumers.
Additionally, the overwhelming demand has led to installation delays, with service networks struggling to handle the influx of new connections and service requests, causing waits of a week or more in some areas.
The room air-conditioning industry has experienced an unexpected growth of about 50% over the past three months, far exceeding expectations, according to Daikin Airconditioning India Chairman and Managing Director Kanwaljeet Jawa. "For some of the components, some companies had shortages and they may have been airlifted, but the industry is definitely in a very, very buoyant mood," Jawa stated.
The sudden demand spike has led to emergency airlifts as companies, generally planning inventory three months in advance via ocean freight, scramble to maintain production. The room AC industry remains heavily import-dependent, with about 60-65% of product value sourced from abroad.
"The industry imports compressors, PCBs, fan motors, copper, and aluminium from markets such as Taiwan, China, Thailand, Malaysia," Jawa explained. Daikin, having preemptively established a manufacturing facility in Sri City and benefiting from NIDEC Corp's adjacent motor factory, has mitigated some supply issues but still needed to airlift PCBs and other small components from Japan.
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