Crompton bets on innovation and consumer research to become a tech-led home-solutions player

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Consumer durables major Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd (CGCEL) is taking its 85-year-old mass-market brand into the super-premium segment with Crompton Rhion, signalling a strategic shift as it looks to transform from a company traditionally known for fans and pumps into a broader, technology-driven home-solutions business.

Rhion will debut with Water Biofier, a premium water-purification product that the business describes as a category-first innovation., said the ₹8,000 crore business. It aims to almost double its revenue in the next five years to ₹15,000 crore,

According to the company, which unveiled a refreshed brand identity, “biofier” is priced at ₹42,000 with introductory offers to be unveiled soon.

The move is part of “Crompton 2.0”, a broader transformation driven by investments in innovation and extensive consumer research, which it states goes beyond simply changing its brand identity.

The water-purification market is the first testing ground for the new brand. Crompton estimates India’s domestic electric water-purifier market at ₹5,565 crore, with reverse osmosis (RO) systems accounting for nearly 85% of the category. Despite the market’s size, household penetration remains low at around 6%, according to the company.

Crompton CEO Promeet Ghosh stated the company invested ₹112 crore in its innovation centre last year, bringing its total investment to approximately ₹312 crore over the three-year period, with the spending focused on enhancing innovation capabilities and developing products aligned with evolving consumer needs.

When it identified that the required technology was not available in-house, the company turned to global leaders who had the expertise, according to Ghosh.

Highlighting that it conducted an extensive consumer study involving 18,000 consumers, more than 740 hours of consumer videos and immersions, multiple home visits and over 30 million data points; Chief Marketing Officer Tanmay Prusty noted the findings were used in product strategy, new-category expansion and the business’s new brand positioning.

Rhion is intended to cater to consumers seeking what management described as refined living and an elevated product experience. While energy conversion is being positioned as a potential future expansion area.

“Energion is going to be the power behind everyday progress,” Prusty said, describing the platform as one that will enable consumers and businesses through “reliable, intelligent, sustainable energy solutions.”

According to the business, Energion will give Crompton the flexibility to enter emerging energy segments without being tied to a single product category.

Crompton additionally unveiled Cephyr, its new master-brand emblem, along with “Amazing, Every Day” as its new brand promise, “When we found that there is a cohort of consumers in an aspiring India who desire refined living, an elevated product experience, we did not cater to them, so we created a brand that does,” Ghosh said.

Alongside Rhion, Crompton is building Energion as a separate energy platform, with aims to expand across the energy value chain, including generation, conversion, storage and charging.

The portfolio already includes solar rooftop solutions and energy-storage products such as power banks and batteries. The new identity will be rolled out progressively across products, packaging, retail outlets, digital platforms and consumer communications.

(The writer was in Mumbai at the invitation of the business)