ANNOUNCEMENTS
The consumer durable goods market includes two types of products: energy efficient and energy inefficient ones. Such a differentiation in between product models is done on the basis of energy consumed by specific product models. Use of higher energy efficient household refrigerators offer savings on electricity bills to the consumers and also contributes positively towards environmental protection. This is the reason behind attempts to promote penetration and adoption of such products. However, the market for energy efficient refrigerators has not grown overtime in India, as was anticipated. The present study attempts to look at the decision patterns of the consumers and producers leading to such market scenario and investigate the reasons for the same. The results derived depict inexistence of any economic reason for the consumers to invest in a higher energy efficient refrigerator and that the producers are unable to reach the economies of scale of production because of which the price of such products is at a high level. The higher price also explains why these appliances are unattractive to the price conscious consumers. In such a situation, government intervention is required in order to achieve market transformation by increasing penetration of energy efficient household refrigerators.
