Daikin plans third plant in India

INDIA: Just a year after opening a second factory in Rajasthan, Daikin aims to open a third factory in India for domestic air conditioners.

Reports in the Nikkei Asian Review back previous suggestions of a further plant, with the website suggesting a JPY10bn ($88.4m) investment in a plant in western or southern India. The investment is intended to double Daikin India’s production capacity to 2 million units per year.

Daikin first entered the Indian market in 2000 in a 80/20 joint venture with the Usha Shriram Group, a major Indian manufacturer of electrical and electronic goods. It opened its first factory at Neemrana, Rajasthan, in 2008, adding a US$48m R&D centre in 2016 and completing a second plant at Neemrana, costing $145m, in 2017.

Sales in the year to March 31, 2018, were 3,250 crores ($459m).