Whirlpool India to revive brand, sets sights on premium play: MD Narasimhan Eswar

Kolkata: American white-goods maker Whirlpool Corp may have paused plans to nearly halve its stake in the local entity to 20%, but the business would now operate with complete autonomy and not be at all reliant on approvals from its largest shareholder, Whirlpool India managing director Narasimhan Eswar told ET.

Eswar said Whirlpool India's board and leadership will independently take all business, investment and fund-raising decisions as the company revives the brand and pushes into the fast-growing, high-margin premium segment, where it has had little or no presence.

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Six senior executives, including Eswar and CFO Aditya Jain, have also invested their "life savings" in the company's shares to signal their confidence in its turnaround. The US parent retains 39.7%.

"Whirlpool India is now an Indian company. The Indian entity has entered into long-term agreements of up to 30 years with the US company for brand and technology licensing, can be extended further, and will operate at arm's length. Whirlpool Corp is the largest shareholder and our well-wisher. That's all. There is no more day-to-day discussion the way it used to happen when they owned 75% at one point. We have full autonomy," Eswar said.

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Whirlpool Corp owned nearly 76% of Whirlpool India until early 2024, when it cut its stake to 51% through block deals with mutual funds and foreign institutional investors. Last November, it reduced the holding further to 39.76% through the same route. Mutual funds collectively are now the second-largest shareholder with 31.76%.

The stake sales have weighed heavily on Whirlpool India's stock, which has almost halved in the past 10 months. Its market capitalisation has fallen from ₹26,090 crore to ₹9,845 crore over two years. The recent share purchase by top management is also to revive investor sentiment.

"We truly believe in the future of the company. The share purchase is not ESOPs, though for the first time ever we have also come up with an India ESOP plan to drive performance. Earlier few of us used to get Whirlpool Corp shares as Esops," Eswar said.

Greater autonomy has coincided with gains in market share. Whirlpool now claims to be the largest player by volume or units sold in multi-brand stores, including modern retail, in direct-cool refrigerators and the second largest in overall refrigerator and washing machines. This excludes sales in exclusive brand stores and ecommerce. Whirlpool competes with Korean duo, LG and Samsung, who maintains leadership apart from strong competition coming from Chinese brand Haier.

The company plans to plug product gaps, strengthen its frost-free refrigerator portfolio and enter the large-capacity segment with models priced 20-30% below competitors. It is investing ₹245 crore in a new production line for this and plans to strengthen front-load washing machines, where Eswar said Whirlpool has "a right to win" as the inventor of electric washing machines.

Whirlpool also plans to focus on air-conditioners, where sales rose 50% this summer from a year earlier, while evaluating other categories. "Scale is everything and we want to be among the top three brands in every segment, as no other market position makes money," Eswar said.

This year, however, is likely to be an exception to its profit focus, with input costs rising due to the West Asia crisis and rupee depreciation. Changes in energy ratings for refrigerators and ACs have required fresh investments and made old inventory obsolete in six months, while tighter e-waste norms have also hit the balance sheet.