NE BUSINESS BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, FEB 25
Having established as the market leader in the water purifier segment, consumer goods major Eureka Forbes Limited on Tuesday announced the launch of India’s first, ‘Health Conditioner’ under the brand name ‘Forbes’ in Ahmedabad, a top company official said.
First, of its kind, Forbes Health Conditioner is a plus on everything that conventional air-conditioners (ACs) offer to consumers and provide them the benefits of cool and healthy air, in one go.
Eureka Forbes said it will nationally launch ‘Forbes’ by March-April this year, with patented technology to deliver air free of microbes and germs.
“We call it ‘’health conditioner’ because it removes 99 per cent microbes and germs within two hours. It comes with a cutting-edge ‘Active Shield’ technology that destroys infectious micro-organisms and de-odorizes air effectively
for which we have applied for the patent. Further, it is also an inverter health conditioner which consumes 60% lower energy as compared to conventional air conditioners,” said Vikram Surendran, President, Eureka Forbes Limited.
The company has done test marketing for the last 15 to 18 months in Gujarat and Kerala, and based on the feedback and research, it is going launch health conditioners nationally between March and April, he said.
The product, Surendran added, is present in 451 multi-brand outlets in Gujarat, where it has achieved 2.8 per cent market share.
“Since its pilot launch, the Forbes brand has achieved 2.8 per cent overall market share in Gujarat and 2.5 per cent in Kerala and sold over 45,000 units. It has now also introduced cassette and tower ACs,” he said.
The “health conditioner” technology was developed in the company’s R&D facility in Bengaluru around two years back.
“The all-weather health conditioner provides clean air in winters too while keeping the compressor off. A regular inverter AC 91 ton) covers a maximum area of 110 sqft, whereas Forbes MEGA TON Health Conditioner provides cool and healthy air up to 150 sq.ft. It has received certificates of appreciation from the Indian Medical Academy for Prevention Health, VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) in Tamil Nadu and the US-based American Medical Holdings Inc for its Active-shield UV LED air sanitising system,” said Vaikunth Ganapathy, Business Head-New Categories and Rural, Eureka Forbes.
The company achieved a turnover of Rs 2,300 crore in the 2019 financial year, with water purification remaining its largest segment, contributing about 70 per cent of turnover, he said.
Vacuum cleaners would be about 20 per cent, and balance would be security systems and air purifiers, he said, adding that the category of AC will take time to develop.
