Eureka Forbes raises awareness on pollution in bid to push air purifiers

It was in the late 90s that ‘Aquaguard’ — the well known water purifier brand — became a household name.

Banking primarily on direct selling and awareness campaigns for nearly 15 years, Eureka Forbes was able to create a name for its product in the market.

Today, the Shapoorji Pallonji group firm intends to do the same in the air purifier segment.

The company has been selling air purifiers for nearly 20 years now. ‘Euroair, its air purifier brand, was re-branded as ‘Aeroguard’. “Just like we created awareness amongst people by talking about water-borne diseases at the time of Aquaguard, we are doing the same today in case of air purifiers. We are following the same winning formula where we understood the problem; educated the people; and then built the solution,” Marzin Shroff, CEO and Senior Vice-President, Eureka Forbes Ltd, told BusinessLine .

Of the ₹2,300-crore revenue that it reported from Indian operations last fiscal, air purifiers contributed less than ₹100 crore.

But, Eureka Forbes, sources say is the no. 1 player in the segment in terms of volume sales.

Confident of growth in the segment, Eureka Forbes has already set up its air purifier manufacturing line at Bengaluru.

Previously, most of the offerings for India were imported from China. Now, they’ll be made at the Bengaluru unit. Shroff did not reveal investment figures that have gone into the unit.

According to him, the plant’s current capacity is pegged at 1,000 units a month; and it can be “scaled up” to 10,000 units a month.

Eureka Forbes already supplies to the European market where it sells air purifiers under the Lux brand.

Apart from Aeroguard — sold through retail and e-com; the company has a sub-brand — Dr Aeroguard — for direct selling channels.

According to Shroff “air is the next water” for Eureka Forbes.

The company has been “investing heavily” in creating awareness about issues relating to air pollution and its health effects. Investments, he says, have run into “hundreds of crore”.

Shroff said awareness campaigns (in air purifiers) started as early as two decades ago when it began putting out air quality info across cities on a private news channel. Currently, it has also tied up with hospitals and partnered with doctors in its bid to raise awareness about air quality issues.

“There is a certain time when a category takes off,” Shroff maintained.

The ₹350-crore air purifier segment in India is witnessing a compounded annual growth rate of 45 per cent.

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