Maharaja Appliances to resurrect Gem refrigerators

Maharaja Appliances' expansion strategy includes launcing a slew of white goods and resurrecting the regrigerator brand of the yesteryears, Gem.

Chennai: In the battle for shelf space in the consumer's household, the New Delhi-based Rs300-crore consumer Maharaja Appliances Ltd has chalked out a two-fold strategy.
The first is to expand the product range of the Rs150-crore small appliances Maharaja, which sells the Whiteline brand of products.

The second is more ambitious; To get into the bigger white goods segments competing with the Korean majors like LG and Samsung that have a strong grip over the Indian market.

The Maharaja group will launch its Gem brand of colour televisions, liquid crystal display screens, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, audio and video products through Empire Home Appliances Limited.

“We want  to be present in every household and in every room in a household,“ says Harish Kumar, group managing director.

Resurrecting a comatose brand
Acquiring the popular yesteryear's refrigerator brand Gem from Electrolux a couple of years back, Empire Home has soft launched refrigerators in North India with the tag line `Gem of your life.'

Explaining the rationale for acquiring a dead brand and resurrecting it in a fiercely competitive market, Kumar says, “There are around half a million Gem refrigerators that are running in North India. The brand has good equity and recall amongst the public and traders. Further the brand name is small and its meaning is understandable by all, unlike many other brands in India.“