New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Consumer appliances andelectronic goods maker Haier India will soon hike prices ofits refrigerators and air conditioners by up to 12 per centdue to spike in raw material costs.
"We are heading for a price increase due to higher rawmaterial costs.. nobody wanted to do it before Diwali as itwould upset the market... I do not have too much of inventoryto carry. So, price will go up soon... as early as next week.
It's inevitable," Haier India President Eric Braganza toldPTI.
"Refrigerators prices will go up by 5-6 per cent. The airconditioner price hike could be in double digits... around 10-12 per cent," he added.
Haier, which recently inaugurated additional capacity atits Pune plant, expects its product imports to fall by half.
The company will manufacture washing machines, ACs, TVpanels and water heaters at the Ranjangaon in Pune built withan investment of Rs 600 crore.
Earlier, the company was only manufacturing refrigeratorsat the plant. Haier's production capacity now stands at 3.8million units.
"I expect our product imports to go down from around 50per cent at present to 20-25 per cent with this new plant. We,however, will continue to import some high-end products,"Braganza said.
Haier India, a 100 per cent subsidiary of China's Haiergroup, started operations in 2004 and manufacturing in Indiaby acquiring a 40-acre plant at Ranjangoan in 2007. PTI SVKARD.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.