Pigeon cooking appliances maker expects high demand for stainless steel pressure cookers as input cost eases

As input costs ease, cooking appliances maker Stovekraft sees an upward trend in demand for products like stainless cookers amid the festive season.

“We had good Onam. All markets are now working normally unlike in the last two years. So there is stability in all the channels. There is good consumer traction in the market,” said Rajendra Gandhi, Managing Director at Stovekraft on Monday.

He is seeing reasonable growth in the entry-level segment for pressure cooker sales. “We are seeing high growth in the premium segment, that is stainless steel kind of segment,” he told CNBC-TV18.

The pressure cooker is close to 25 percent of the total sales of Stovekraft’s, which sells its appliances under the Pigeon and Gilma brands.

He added that the consumer electrical segment is doing well. The base is smaller and hence the growth rate is much higher than the company’s growth rate in this segment, he said.

Though the market is hit by inflation, Gandhi believes there is stabilisation in the cost of various materials that go into consumer goods, particularly steel, aluminium and other metals.

Therefore, he doesn’t see any reason for further price hikes. “Prices are stabilizing. At the current cost price, we continue to offer our consumers the products that we are already selling,” he said.

He expects Stovekraft’s margin for the 2022-2023 financial year to come in at 11 percent.