NEW DELHI, JAN 22: Godrej Appliances may slip into the red this fiscal due to flat growth in refrigerator sales and a fall in washing machines growth, with total sales turnover expected to fall by about nine per cent to Rs 650 crore.He said the company, which has posted flat sales growth last fiscal, is expected to embrak upon `balance scorecard' programme to identify more areas where costs could be optimised."Our strategy for the year ahead is clear. We want to optimise costs, offer better-quality, CFC-free products with improved features and focus on increasing exports," Crishna said adding the exports at present were a dismal 7,000-10,000 units per annum of refrigerators.With the CFC-free products, Godrej Appliances hopes double exports to about 20,000 units of refrigerators, mainly to the neighbouring markets including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Crishna said the company has manufacturing plants in four locations in India manufacturing refrigerators (between 100-400 litres capacities), washing machines (both fully and semi automatic) and assembling air conditioners.But due to falling sales, Godrej Appliances has chosen the outsourcing route to optimise costs - since all purchases are negotiated and idle capacity avoided - and presently as much as 70 per cent of the company's production is being outsourced.While Crishna admitted that the Koreans - Samsung and LG - were way ahead in both sales and brand awareness parameters compared to Godrej, he said the company was eyeing the top slot, at least in refrigerators, over the next two-three years on the strength of its brand name and product features.
