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Long Winter, High Inventory To Hit Sales Of Air Conditioners This Summer, Says Symphony

The inventory currently held with distribution channels is still significant, according to the company’s Founder Achal Bakeri.

An employee works on an outdoor unit of a split system air conditioner at a factory in the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation’s industrial complex in Neemrana. Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg
An employee works on an outdoor unit of a split system air conditioner at a factory in the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation’s industrial complex in Neemrana. Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg

The extended winter and an inventory pile up among distributors is expected to affect the sales of air conditioners this summer, according to Symphony Ltd.

“Meteorologists predict temperatures to be higher than normal in north India this year but there has been an extended winter,” said Achal Bakeri, the company’s founder chairman and managing director, in an interview with BloombergQuint. This means the unsold inventory will get exhausted only by around summer, resulting in minimal demand from dealers during a period that traditionally accounts for half of yearly sales.

He, however, said that it’s too early to break out the bubbly, while admitting that the inventory currently with the distribution channels was “still significant”. “We need 2-3 weeks of good summer for consumption of this old inventory and the second round of sales to happen.”

Watch the full interview here: