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New Delhi, Sept. 17: Gem refrigerators are returning to the market after 10 years.

The Maharaja Appliances group, owners of the Maharaja Whiteline brand, have bought the Gem brand.

Maharaja has also acquired a 50 per cent stake in Beltek, a consumer electronics company known for its televisions. Maharaja may use Beltek to launch Gem.

“We want to reposition the Gem brand and add more product lines under its umbrella. By next year, we will produce three frost-free refrigerator models and also manufacture air-conditioners and microwaves,” Harish Kumar, managing director of Maharaja Appliances, told The Telegraph.

Kelvinator was the original owner of the Gem brand.

It stopped production of Gem refrigerators after Whirlpool took over the company.

Maharaja now owns Gem through Empire Home Appliances. It acquired the brand as part of its strategy to enter the white goods segment.

Maharaja will add washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves and air conditioners to the Beltek range, which sells televisions, DVDs and home theatres.

The company will manufacture these products at its new plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.

“The new plant, in which we have already invested about Rs 100 crore, will manufacture products for Gem and Beltek,” said Kumar.

The group, which will invest another Rs 100 crore next year, is also looking for a strategic alliance for manufacturing Gem products.

“We need a technology partner for our Gem brand. It could be a joint venture, but we will continue to remain the majority shareholders. We are talking to some companies in Europe and West Asia,” said Kumar.

The Maharaja group is investing another Rs 50 crore in its existing plant in Baddi, where it manufactures juicer-mixer-grinders, food processors, steam irons, wet grinders, toasters and electric kettles, washing machines, OTG (oven-toaster-griller) and other assorted products.

The group, which recorded a turnover of Rs 150 crore in the last financial year, is targeting a Rs 700-crore turnover in 2008-09.

Maharaja is also targeting Saarc countries to sell its line of products. As for the Gem range, Kumar said, “We are thinking of an arrangement where if we tie up with a global partner for our Gem series, we will produce some for domestic consumption while the rest can be exported”.