Air purifier sales see up to 60 pc spike on rising air pollution

Leading air purifier makers witnessed up to 60 per cent jump in sales in peak season, mainly October and vember, this year, helped by growing pollution levels and steep rise in air quality index (AQI) in Delhi-NCR and rrn region.

Air purifier makers like Philips, Blueair, Panasonic, Eureka, Forbes, Sharp, Xiomi and Blue Star reported high double-digit jump in sales.

Besides Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), companies also saw higher demand from tier-II cities like Luckw and Kanpur.

rr region contributes more than half of sales of air purifiers.

While Delhi-NCR continued to top sales chart for air purifiers, this year also saw some of companies reporting higher number of sales from markets like Kerala and rth East.

"This year, air purifier market in India stood at Rs 450 crore and we have witnessed a strong surge in air purifier penetration, recording a 60 per cent growth over last year till date," Philips Personal Health, Indian Subcontinent Vice-President Gulbahar Taurani said.

Sharp sold around 15,000 units in month of October and vember this year.

"Sharp witnessed 27 per cent growth in sales in se two months," Sharp Business Systems India President Consumer Electronics Kishlay Ray said.

"This year, we have witnessed sales of our air purifier in strange markets where we never thought pollution is an issue. For example, Kerala and rth East (which accounted for nearly 3 per cent of our total sales), apart from well-kwn pollution hotspots like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and so on," he added.

Similarly, Eureka Forbes also reported a 30 per cent growth, its Chief Transformation Officer Shashank Sinha said.

" air purifier market was dominated by one market predominantly that is Delhi-NCR, followed by certain n-metros which did fairly well during peak season," Sinha added.

While market for room air purifiers is in a nascent st, limited to some key metro cities a few years ago, it has w started expanding to smaller cities.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), which operates in air purifier category with its brands Blueair and Pureit, also saw a double- digit growth.

"We have seen a healthy double-digit growth during peak season this year. More than 70 per cent of our sales still come from rth region," a HUL spokesperson said.

"While category is nascent in smaller towns, we have seen signs of demand picking up in tier II towns in rth India," he added.

With rise in air pollution, companies believe that air purifiers are gradually becoming a lifestyle product and are likely to see sales throughout year by shedding tag of being a seasonal product.

According to Xiaomi India Head - Categories and Online Sales Raghu Reddy, " response to air purifiers has been overwhelming and positive throughout year owing to fact that today it has become a necessity for Indian consumers."

"We have ticed a trend of awareness and acceptance of poor air quality and environmental issues than before. Today, people are pro-actively taking precautions and improving quality of indoor air that y are breathing."

Panasonic India General Manr, Air Purifier Business Syed Moonis Ali Alvi said, "With rise in pollution levels, backed by increasing awareness and growing preferences for health and wellness products, air purifiers have become a part of our lifestyle today."

According to market experts, segment is growing at around 15 to 20 per cent annually and more than 15 companies are operating in .

However, Blue Star, which witnessed 25 per cent growth in segment, cautioned about quality of products being sold in market and demanded that its standards should be defined and regulated.

"Air purifiers are sold from Rs 800 to Rs 57,000 in market. Someone has even put charcoal and is selling it as room air purifier," Blue Star Managing Director B Thiagarajan said.

"This should be treated as health care product and should be regulated. re should be some certification," he added.

According to him, some of makers are simply importing products without understanding market.

"In this chaos which is going on, suddenly one week or 10 days after stubble burning, people are buying it," he said, adding that it is very important to assure people that air is being purified.

According to Assocham-TechSci Research report published in February 2019, air purifiers are among fastest-growing products in home appliances .