Daikin Air-conditioning India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the $14-billion Daikin Industries, is focussing on tier II and III cities and expanding its dealership network to 2,000 to be among the top three heating, ventilation, air conditioners (HVAC) players in India by 2015.

“We are investing Rs 122 crore in branding, expansion of our dealership networks in tier II and III cities to 2,000 and setting up 50 new Daikin exclusive plazas across the country over the next 12 months,” said Kanwal Jeet Jawa, managing director, Daikin Air-conditioning India.

At present, the firm has 850 dealers and 50 Daikin exclusive plazas across the country, he said. The company, selling a range of residential and commercial products from refrigerants to air-conditioners, competes with LG, Samsung, Voltas, Hitachi and Panasonic in the market.

“We want to aggressively tap the tier II and III cities as they are the next growth hot spots for expanding our business,” Jawa said. He said the expanding dealerships and exclusive plazas with sales and service points will be close to the customers to provide quick after-sale services.

“We will provide 50 per cent subsidy to our channel partners to open 50 new Daikin exclusive solution plazas to take the tally to 100 over the next 12 months,” Jawa said. The size of these plazas will vary from 500-2,000 sq ft area and will require an investment of Rs 5 lakh to 25 lakh each depending on the city and location, he said.

Daikin India is also investing Rs 128 crore to set up a new room air-conditioner assembly line at its 40-acre integrated AC manufacturing facility at Neemrana in Rajasthan, where it invested Rs 376 crore in 2009.

“By July 2012, we will be able to roll out split AC conditioners from the new assembly line. It will have an installed capacity for 500,000 units per annum,” Jawa said. Last financial year, the company sold 300,000 split AC conditioners imported from its facility in Thailand.

At present, the Neemrana plant has the installed capacity to produces 20,000 variable refrigerant volume units and 1,800 chiller units per annum.

Jawa said the firm had clocked total revenues of Rs 1,000 crore for the first nine months of financial year 2011-12. The company expects to cross a turnover of Rs 1,250 crore for financial year ended March 2012. Last financial year, it had clocked net sales revenue of Rs 850 crore.

At present, the firm’s 70 per cent revenues come from residential segment and the balance from commercial segment.