Bosch acquires majority stake in JCHAI, becomes major player in India’s AC market

Kolkata: Robert Bosch Gmbh is set to get a bigger foothold in India's home appliances market, with the German giant taking control of AC maker Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India (JCHAI).

Bosch bought a 74.2% stake from JCHAI's parent entities Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning Holding (UK) and JCHAC India HoldCo Ltd effective July 31, according to a stock exchange filing by JCHAI on Monday.

Bosch said it will soon announce details of the mandatory open offer for the balance 25.75% shares held by minority shareholders of JCHAI.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition is part of a global deal wherein Bosch announced a takeover of the AC solutions business for residential and light commercial buildings from Johnson Controls about a year ago.

As part of the deal, Bosch decided to wholly acquire the Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning joint venture in India, including Hitachi's 40% stake. The size of the global deal is $8 billion-the biggest-ever in Bosch's history.

Bosch currently has a home appliances business in India, selling refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, kitchen appliances and vacuum cleaners, positioned in the premium segment and competing with LG and Samsung, among others.

The addition of the AC business of JCHAI will make Bosch a full spectrum appliance manufacturer in India, attaining distribution and manufacturing scale.

Last year, the company said it will globally integrate the acquired AC business, though industry executives said later that in India, the decision will be taken after completion of the open offer since JCHAI is a listed entity.

JCHAI clocked '2,756 crore in sales in FY25 and '58 crore in net profit. While revenue surged 44% from the year before, the company also turned profitable since in FY24, it had incurred a net loss of '75 crore.

Industry executives said JCHAI also improved its market share which had earlier fallen to a single-digit low. In air-conditioning, the company competes with Tata-owned Voltas, LG, Havells, Daikin and Blue Star.

JCHAI manufactures a wide range of cooling products spanning room, commercial, and ductable ACs under the Hitachi Cooling and Heating brand name.

In the June quarter, JCHAI's sales fell by 14% year-on-year to '852 crore. The performance however came ahead of a more than 40% decline in industry sales in 1QFY26 due to early onset of monsoons this year, and erratic rainfall.

JCHAI said in its latest annual report that demand for light commercial air conditioners is growing thanks to increasing government spending in healthcare, educational institutes, metro and railway networks, besides private sector investments into hospitals, commercial and residential real estate, hospitality and data centres.

The company is also growing its export business by expanding its South Asian footprint-in Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.