Indians buy 14 million ACs a year, and need many more

NEW DELHI: Aarti Verma is about to join the growing ranks of Indians installing air conditioning, scraping together savings to secure relief from sometimes deadly temperatures that can reach nearly 50 Celsius.

A record 14 million AC units were sold in India last year, with a ninefold increase in residential ownership forecast by mid-century. That will give millions safer and more comfortable conditions at work and home.

But it will also drive demand for electricity that is generated mostly by burning climate-warming coal, and increase the hot AC exhaust air expelled into the country´s stifling streets. For Verma, the priority is securing some immediate relief.

Her sales and marketing work means she must visit multiple stores a day, battling blazing heat. “Coming home after a long day I want some comfort,” said the 25-year-old, who earns 30,000 rupees ($350) a month and will pay 50,000 rupees ($584) to install air conditioning in her spartan two-room home.

“Earlier I would sleep on the terrace, but these days it´s so hot even in the night, AC has become a necessity,” she told AFP in a poor neighbourhood of the capital Delhi. India is the world´s fastest-growing AC market, despite only about seven percent of households currently owning units. The boom could mean the world´s most populous country needs to triple electricity production to meet demand, experts say.