The Golden Quadrilateral highway network and the introduction of fully built luxury buses by large OEMs, as well as the entry of foreign bus manufacturers, has led to a quantum jump in the quality of buses. More and more passengers are discovering the comforts of air-conditioned bus travel on city transport and in intercity travel, and passenger expectations are rising. This is also directly related to our overall expectation of air conditioning in homes, offices, cars and shopping centres. The penetration level of bus air-conditioning is approximately 4-6 per cent, which is low by international standards, but has increased from less than 2 per cent in a period of the last 5 years and is likely to reach double digits soon.

As is well known, India is the second largest producer of fruit and vegetables in the world. However, approximately 35 per cent of this produce is wasted due to inefficient methods of storage, handling and transportation. There is a growing awareness in industry and government of the need to develop the cold chain for food across the country and several initiatives are in the process of being firmed up.

The penetration of refrigeration in trucks is very small. Industry estimates that annually approximately 104 million tonnes of perishable produce/product are moved in the country. Out of that, around 100 million metric tonnes goes through the non-reefer mode and the remaining four million metric tonnes goes through the reefer transport.

Both bus air-conditioning and truck refrigeration are poised to grow 20-25 per cent over the next few years. Contact us at www.sidwal.com for your Bus and truck Airconditioning needs