Medical Refrigerators to contribute around 7% of sales in 3-5 years: Godrej Appliances

Godrej Appliances is expecting a contribution of around Rs 500 crore in sales from its medical refrigeration portfolio in the next three-five years, a top company official said.

Godrej Appliances, a business unit of Godrej & Boyce which operates in the segment with its vaccine refrigerators and deep freezers, is sensing strong growth in the segment and is expanding by adding more products.

Godrej Appliances on Tuesday launched the InsuliCool product range, which is specially designed for insulin storage, to address the challenge faced by diabetic patients concerning insulin storage at recommended temperatures.

The medical products portfolio is currently at Rs 150 crore and with the addition of the InsuliCool product range, it would be doubling in the next two years, said Godrej Appliances business head and executive vice president Kamal Nandi.

''Our plan over the next 3 to 5 years is to move up this business vertical to about Rs 500 crore. Today it is contributing just about 3 percent and it would move up about 7 percent over the next five years,'' said Nandi in a virtual media briefing.

Godrej Appliances aims for a turnover of around Rs 5,500 crore in FY23. It was at about Rs 2,000 crore in the pandemic-impacted 2021-22 and at Rs 4,500 crore in the pre-pandemic period.

Godrej Appliances manufactures its medical refrigeration portfolio at its Shirval, Pune-based plant, where it has invested around Rs 40 crore for the category.

''This is the third product coming out from that investment. There would be more products under these verticals,'' he added.

When asked about the sales expectations from InsuliCool, Nandi said this is a new product and the first of a kind in this category, hence there are no market studies.

''But our assessment says about 10 percent of the consumers should be using the products like this. Within the first three years, we are targeting Rs 100 crore to Rs 125 crore business for this category,'' he added.

Besides the domestic market, the company is also looking for the export potential of Godrej InsuliCool, especially for South East Asia and the US, and is working on those requirements, said Nandi.

According to the company, it is a sscientificfact that insulin must always be preserved in the temperature range of 2°-8°C to maintain its effectiveness. Any temperature breach below or above this range leads to a drop in its efficacy.

Godrej InsuliCool product range is equipped with advanced solid-state thermoelectric cooling technology and is designed to work even at ambient temperatures up to 43°C, maintaining the system's internal temperature of 2°-8°C always.

With a storage capacity of 560 ml, it can easily store 9 vials; alternatively, 2 pens and 5 cartridges can be stored by removing the vials holder.

Data suggests that close to 74 million people suffer from diabetes in India.

''This is second highest in the world and predicted to rise over 10 percent by 2030. Of this, at least 10 percent of the diabetic population also require insulin therapy beyond oral administration,'' the company said.