Walmart to procure fans from Orient

Orient Fans, part of the CK Birla Group said that it has made an entry into the US market with its first shipment of fans. The company has bagged an order to supply fans to the world's No.1 department store - Walmart.

Orient Fans is already India's biggest for many years now, with last year's exports at 6 lakh fans. Though Orient has been exporting to over 20 countries, this order is expected to open the gate way for future, high volume exports to USA, which is world's largest importer of fans and a single digit share of this market itself is expected to give Orient volumes of over a million fans in 3 year's time.

Walmart does global sourcing and so far has been sourcing fans from China. US majors have been looking at India for some time as an additional source due to the gradual increase in costs of Chinese goods. Indian designs were lagging behind and were not able to take advantage and Chinese prices were much lower than those of Indian goods.

Commenting on the development,. S.B. Bhaiya, executive vice president, Orient Fans said, "Orient has a unique position among fan majors in India. It has worked on developing its own range of table, pedestal and wall (TPW) fans. When most manufacturers have shifted to sourcing from China or from local manufacturers in India, Orient's own designs and production facilities have given Orient the competitive edge in quality and the ability to quickly develop fans to meet different market requirements."

TPW fans constitute around 50 per cent of world exports of fans. In India, these constitute only 20 per cent of the market. The current order has been obtained by developing fans especially for the US market. The models selected for exports are value added models at higher price points.

The company produced 2.2 million fans last year and expects to reach its current financial year target of producing 2.5 million fans. Last year, Orient bagged the trophy for the highest export in the group awarded by the Engineering Export Council of India.