Can you please take us through Air Master’s journey in India?
Air Master is proud to have completed 25 years in India producing the best quality Air Terminals and accessories. Air Master was started in Middle East about 30 years ago. Since our inception in India, we have grown at a steady pace to keep up with the market demand. It’s a family venture and today, the second generation obtaining post graduations from foreign universities adds more valuable growth in terms of technology and innovation in India and Middle East region. Currently, we manufacture in eight plants in the Middle East and four in India with a steady growth of success with satisfied customers world wide.
What are the products offered by the company particularly catering to Indian markets?
Over the decades we have specialized in the manufacturing of wide range of quality air terminal products such as Grilles, Registers, Louvers, Diffusers, Jet nozzles and ducting accessories such as volume control dampers, fire dampers, sound attenuators, VAVs and access doors etc.
This year has been another important milestone for Air Master with the launch of UL Classified Fire and Smoke Dampers in India to meet the growing demand in the industry. Our new plant in Bangalore dedicated to UL Fire Dampers has been approved by Underwriter Laboratory USA with multiple listing code.
What are the growth drivers of your products in India?
Market demand has been a major growth driver as air conditioning has now become a necessity rather than a luxury. The boom in IT sector a decade ago led to a huge demand in air conditioning for our products. The demand from other industries such as hospitality, shopping malls, commercial establishments, manufacturing and Infrastructure developments also attribute to our growth. Our clients are more of MNCs and the major portion of the market growth is backed by foreign investments and collaborations in India.
What are the trends in the current HVAC market? How would you envisage the growth with particular emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainability?
As more and more MNCs are setting up their hubs in India and the knowledge for air outlets products and their design has increased while the economic growth is healthy with ‘Make in India’ initiatives in all sectors of business, the HVAC Industry is poised for a strong growth.
With the technology and innovations in our hands now, there are various types of air distribution products that have vastly improved the air quality and air distribution systems. As project costs have been on the rise, awareness of sustainability and its subsequent implementation with performance has also increased. Products are expected to be environment friendly and energy efficient while adding more focus on the aesthetic aspect of the product. At Air Master, we strive to make all our products and processes sustainable and energy efficient by constant research and developments. Our operations are less energy consuming due to advanced machinery and skills, including our powder coating methods which are automated and environment-friendly.
What kind of technological innovations would you like to incorporate in your products considering the rising global temperature? Do you have R&D hub in India?
We design our products based on applications and collaborate ourselves with consultants as well as architects to ensure that the right products are chosen. We also customize our products and design them to suit specific needs such that the air is distributed exactly the amount of cooling and area as required. This reduces the overall load on air conditioning and reduces energy consumption. VAVs is one of our energy efficient products that control the air based on temperature and pressure and also the under floor air conditioning, which is showing a rising interest in India now-a-days for its low energy consumption.
The technology is not just restricted to our products, but a major part is hidden in the manufacturing operations. We are increasingly making use of automated technology that delivers precise quality and consume less resources and energy on the whole and achieve maximum productivity.
Our products have been tested and certified renowed third party laboratories such as ETL, UL and BSRIA for efficiency and performance and we are the first one to supply such products in India. We have an inhouse R&D facility in Dubai and are setting up a similar one in Bangalore very soon.
How would you differentiate Indian refrigeration markets from the Global markets, while offering your services and products? Do you face any competition in Indian markets?
Air conditioning systems vary based on geographical conditions. India’s tropical climate is contrast to the world’s severe climatic conditions. Although most products are similar, there are a few differences which are not demanded to the local conditions. Competition has always been tough, but our unique talent and capability with adamant quality standards with committed deliveries along with wide range of products under one roof has contributed to our fame as a reliable supplier. Our trademark values of quality, integrity and reliability and cooperation have enabled us to emerge as a market leader and have kept us ahead of any changes in the business environment.
What opportunities would you envisage for your company with the Indian Government’s focus on development of infrastructure like smart cities, urban transportation projects?
India’s emerging economy is strength for its domestic market, with economic policies on the positive run. Government infra projects have Immensely increased in the past few years such as ISRO, BEL Bhabha Atomic Research etc. Metro stations and international airports are also the major government projects that we have catered to. We have always been the most preferred brand due to our quality and on time deliveries.
What are HVAC projects accomplished by the company? What hurdles do you usually face during the completion of these projects?
In the Middle East, certainly Burj Khalifa the world tallest building is in one of our flagship projects with non-negotiable dead line for supplies besides hotels like Marriot hotel towers –world’s tallest hotel, Atlantis, Abu Dhabi Palace and Oman Palace hotels, Dubai , Riyadh Cochin and Chennai metros and stadiums like Khalifa-Doha.
In India, we have been a part of many prestigious projects and carried out various challenging projects in sectors such as business parks, leading IT software parks, 7 & 5 star hotels, hospitals, airport terminals, power stations, oil and gas, manufacturing plants, shopping malls, universities etc. We have supplied to almost all major airports in South India and many five star hotels such as Leela Palace, Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Shangri La, Taj Group etc. Other projects to name a few are Bosch, Toyota, Prestige Golfshire, Embassy Boulevard, Bangalore World Trade Center, Shantiniketan, Kingfisher Towers, ANZ, IBM, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant, Accenture, Amazon, ISRO, BEL, BARC and many more.
Finishing a project within a given deadline is a difficult task for a contractor, which we understand and ensure that the project is completed by offering our full support and carry out this efficiently with complete dedication.
What is your outlook for HVAC industry in India?
Currently, India’s HVAC industry is poised for growth at Rs 25000 crore. We strive to serve all regions of India, GCC Countries, Africa, Europe and some parts South Asia. We are always in search of new business opportunities and products to further expand our wings of innovation to serve our customers in the best possible way we can.
