Godrej Appliances to invest Rs 35 crore into medical refrigerators

Godrej Appliances, which recently forayed into healthcare refrigeration space, will invest Rs 35 crore over the next two years on ramping up production and marketing of its medical refrigerators.

"We are investing Rs 35 crore in three phases over the next two years on ramping up production and marketing of medical refrigerators," Kamal Nandi, business head and executive vice-president of Godrej Appliances said here on Thursday.

The current production capacity is 10,000 units and we will increase it to 30,000 in the next two years, he added.

The company currently has manufacturing units in Mumbai and Pune.

Godrej has entered into a technology transfer agreement with UK's Sure Chill Company for developing and manufacturing these medical refrigerators.

They will be marketed in India and neighbouring nations including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among others as well as African nations, the company said.

The refrigerators are targeted at precise cooling and preserving of immunisation vaccines and for blood bags, Godrej Appliances said in a statement.

According to research estimates, approximately 151 million vaccines, equivalent to nearly US $750 million are lost annually due to improper refrigeration in developing countries.

Godrej's medical refrigerators will be available in two variants priced in the range of Rs 65,000 and Rs 1.35 lakh for different storage capacities.

The firm also plans to launch more products in the health space, like passive coolers, Nandi said.