The 24th edition of ACREX India, from February 15 to 17 at the India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, Delhi – NCR, shone a light on the growing relevance of HVACR in India. Held under the theme, ‘Powering Global HVAC Supply Chain’, the exhibition reinforced the message that it is South Asia’s largest exhibition for air conditioning, heating, ventilation and intelligent buildings. 

Organised by the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), in partnership with Informa Markets in India, ACREX India brought together over 30,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors from 40 countries, facilitating connections among manufacturers, government officials and industry leaders. 

The event served as a platform for discussions on urban construction, sustainability and advanced building techniques, featuring Indian and global HVACR glitterati: Sushil Chodhury, Yogesh Thakkar, Anoop Ballaney, Yogesh Mudras, Ginger Scoggins, Ravichandran Purushothaman, Sanjay Goyal, Vinod Saladi, Sundaresan Narayanan, and P Venkat Rao. 

The exhibition offered opportunities for national and international manufacturers to engage with government officials and industry leaders, facilitating their business objectives of market expansion of USD 30 billion by 2030. Featuring sessions and roundtable discussions spanning Day 2 and Day 3, ACREX India delved into vital subjects such as addressing skill gaps within the HVAC industry and the transformation of HVAC technologies for the infrastructure and building sectors. The three-day event focused on the rapid growth of the HVAC manufacturing sector in India, showcasing the latest technological advancements and displaying HVAC supply chain technologies. 

In recent years, the HVAC industry in India has experienced remarkable growth, with projections indicating an expansion of USD 3.98 billion, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.77% between 2023 and 2028. According to ISHRAE, the growth can be attributed to several factors, including the rising demand for inverter HVAC systems, the growing absorption of office space and the increasing preference for rental HVAC solutions. In his address, Thakkar highlighted the industry’s remarkable growth trajectory and emphasised on ACREX India’s role as a catalyst for progress. He discussed the substantial government investment in infrastructure projects and the potential for advancement in the sector. 

The event showcased diverse HVAC technologies, including variable refrigerant flow systems and predictive maintenance solutions using machine learning algorithms, with the potential of driving greater energy efficiency, cost reduction, and sustainability in residential and commercial settings. 

‘Huge global recognition of what India is manufacturing’ 

In a candid interview, refrigeration expert and Co-convener of ACREX 2024, Ashish Gupta, speaking to Surendar Balakrishnan of Climate Control Middle East during the event, shed light on topics shaping the future of the HVACR sector… 

What is the thrust manufacturers of HVACR equipment in India are giving to export, in terms of R&D and in terms of collaboration? 

So, you must be observing that lot of Indian companies are going abroad. There’s a huge recognition in terms of what India is producing and manufacturing. And I can say from personal experience that up till six years ago, if I would go to any overseas country and would like to sell a product, they would mostly be European or American or Chinese products. But today, we go out and we sell our own Indian products. 

The government has brought a lot of schemes. There’s special easy credit and free collateral credit being given to all the manufacturing companies for R&D. They have been given for purchase of equipment; they have been given for purchase of land. And also, there is an investment that is made on export-linked incentives that are being given. And the result is for us to see that we had 500 applications coming in the last three years, and these have been almost to the tune of each individual application being between 200 crores (INR 2 billion) to 500 crores (INR 5 billion) of Indian rupee value investments. 

Daikin is one of the leading examples, Voltas has followed suit, Blue Star has followed suit, and I can name numerous companies. But what has resulted is that it has created an environment of  a chain reaction, where a large organisation is aiming to go 2x, 3x, and not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality. That also puts pressure on the vendors who are making components for them. It also gives an opportunity for people in sales to promote them to the next level of customers. And it also creates an environment where we are now looking to go abroad because of the unique cost advantage that we have locally here now, we have good skills set, we have good prices and we have expanded capacities. 

So, I think it’s all a good mix to go to the global market. And the result is… taking Indian manufacturing to the world. 

Europe has its Eurovent Certita Certification programme, and when it comes to North America, or the United States, in particular, you have AHRI, though both of them carry out work as international certification bodies. Is there something in the pipeline where we are going to see an Indian body that will not only certify Indian HVACR products but at one stage will also test and certify global HVACR products? 

I think that’s a very nice question. 

I see that standards anywhere are people who are academicians and educationists, and their ideas could never be taken as something that you can brush aside. 

So yes, we recognise global standards like AHRI, Eurovent. But there’s a very, very strong movement that started almost like three years from now ago. And we are converting most of the standards to Indian standards. So, there was a movement called the Indian standards which was there. Now we have to step up again, which is more above the Indian standard. So, every import that has to come to India needs to be QCO-qualified to be here. We are also imposing a lot of opportunities to people to come here and follow the Indian standards by way of compliance, whether it is of simple things like wires and sockets, but also in terms of the capacities and performance-related aspects. So, ISHRAE is working with the Indian Government’s Bureau of Indian Standards on many fronts, and with BEE, which is the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. In the cold chain, if you see, ISHRAE is working with the National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD). 

So, we are working to bring out Indian standards, which cater to Indian climatic conditions, which cater to Indian operational conditions, and which also cater to the highest. When we are doing the standards afresh, we are trying to go one step above what is already existing, in terms of efficiency, in terms of imported carbon and also the carbon by itself. And I think the whole idea is to bring a quality product. It’s not only [relating] to the product, it is also going into buildings, the spaces that we call as built spaces. So, we have the latest, if you were there yesterday, we had the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) launch, which is the code for building operations. And it is not only talking of the standards at inception, but we are talking of a continuous standard in lifetime processes. 

So, I think the process has already started. There is just one critical standard right now, but I think in another year or so, you will definitely see Indian standards very, very much applicable in terms of most of the products