Room airconditioner manufacturer Epack Durable on Thursday announced a Rs 160-crore investment from ICICI Venture which will be used for the expansion activities.
The company also announced a Rs 500-crore greenfield and brownfield capacities expansion which will help increase its capacity by three-fold by 2025.
It currently manufactures room ACs and other small household appliances from its facility in Dehradun for Indian and multinational companies and is looking at leveraging the recently announced PLI (production linked incentive) scheme for room air conditioners as it looks to expand capacity.
The investment has been done by India Advantage Fund Series 4 and Dynamic India US S4 I, which are funds advised by ICICI Venture, as per an official statement.
The company’s current capacity stands at 1 million room ACs and 1 million small household appliances and is presently the second-largest outsourced design manufacturer in the room ACs segment.
It is targeting to increase capacity to 3 million room ACs a year, with an eye on both the increase in domestic sales and also the exports market.
A greenfield manufacturing facility near Bhiwadi in Rajasthan is expected to be commissioned by December, while it has also announced a plan for setting up a greenfield manufacturing plant in South India which is expected to be operational by Q3 of 2022, the statement said.
“Room AC penetration in India is lowest with penetration in 7-8 per cent households only. Over the last two decades, Epack has been building manufacturing capabilities to manufacture Room Air Conditioners and small home appliances,” its promoter director Sanjay Singhania said.
“Over the past few years, Epack has established itself as a prominent manufacturer of room air conditioners and other home appliances products, with investments in research and quality which allow them to cater to their customers’ diverse needs,” ICICI Venture’s managing director and chief executive Puneet Nanda said.
ICICI Venture is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the second-largest private sector lender and has invested about USD 5 billion since its inception.