Blue Star to set up Rs 130 crore plant, expand commercial refrigeration footprint

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Feb 11 : Blue Star said on Thursday it is doubling its capacity for commercial refrigeration products by setting up a new manufacturing plant at a cost of Rs 130 crore.
The new plant at its existing facility at Wada in Thane district of Maharashtra will have annual capacity to produce two lakh deep freezers and one lakh storage water coolers. It is in the advanced stages of completion and is likely to be commissioned by the year-end.
"The need for commercial refrigeration in India is increasingly becoming vital across industries -- be it for pharmaceutical, healthcare, agriculture, hospitality, food processing and dairy among others," said Managing Director B Thiagarajan.
"Compared to the developed countries, commercial refrigeration adoption in India is only at a sub-5 per cent level, which translates into huge opportunities for us," he said in a statement.
The demand for these products and equipment is witnessing a rapid uptick with pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors witnessing heightened momentum due to the rollout of vaccination drive and enhanced thrust by the government to build a future-ready robust healthcare ecosystem, said Thiagarajan.
Blue Star has a market share of 60 to 70 per cent in the pharmaceutical and healthcare segments in its addressed product categories like modular cold rooms, medical freezers, ultra-low temperature freezers, pharma refrigerators and blood bank refrigerators.
Besides, it offers a wide spectrum of cold chain equipment catering to agriculture, dairy, ice-cream, processed foods, hotels, restaurants, fast-food chains, quick service restaurants and retail outlets besides several institutional clients.