Chennai, Mar 15 (IANS): Air conditioning major Blue Star Ltd will receive a sum of Rs 73 crore as production-linked incentive (PLI) over a five-year period starting fiscal 2024 for investing in a new plant in Andhra Pradesh, said a top company official.

He also said the company has sufficient stock of copper and other materials to meet the production needs till June this year. Owing to the rising commodity prices, Blue Star may revise its prices upwards in April or May this year.

The company is setting up a new air conditioner plant in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh at an outlay of Rs 525 crore.

"The plant is expected to start production this October. The investment in plant and machinery is about Rs 153 crore, which will be taken into account for computing the incentive. The company will get Rs 73 crore as PLI over a period of five years beginning FY 2024," B. Thiagarajan, Managing Director, Blue Star, told the media here on Tuesday.

"Between October and March 2023, about 1.2 lakh units will be made at the Sri City plant. The next year, production will be 3.5 lakh and it will touch a volume of 12 lakh units by 2026," added C.P. Mukundan Menon, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cooling & Purification Appliances Group, said.

The Sri City plant will cater to the southern market and the company's total production capacity will touch 17 lakh air conditioners per year by 2026, which is sufficient to meet the demand till 2029, he added.