On Friday, the deputy chairman of the western region of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Vir S Advani, shared that air-conditioning and refrigeration producing companies are shifting towards aluminium. This decision aims to help reduce reliance on copper, especially when the price continues to rise due to increased demand from data centres.

Advani, the chairman and managing director of Blue Star, an India-based air conditioner, air purifier and water cooler manufacturer, flagged two major reasons for this decision. One, the hike in the price of air-conditioners (ACs) due to the necessary improvements in energy efficiency.

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Another reason is the increased copper price, which has seen a hike of almost 18 per cent. Although the Centre had reduced the GST rates on ACs from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, this benefit was short-lived, as AC prices went up starting January 1.

As explained by Advani, there are two major factors that are deemed to be playing the crucial role: one is the energy efficiency table charge, which every two years is required to update and the other is the rising copper price.

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Owing to this, the Government has urged all required companies to enhance the energy efficiency of their devices every two years, indicating the need for making adjustments. Additionally, the copper price has risen from USD 8 hundred to USD 14 hundred, which also hikes the overall costs. This marks a major reason behind the firms' switch to aluminium.

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