Kaer, a Global Cooling as a Service (CaaS) provider headquartered in Singapore, is expanding its operations in six major cities in India – Bengaluru, Gurugram, Noida, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. 

Kaer designs, builds, and operates cooling systems to support Asia’s growing demand for cooling, particularly for commercial and industrial buildings. The company is expanding aggressively across the market, tapping into India’s high demand for centralised cooling, which accounts for about 57% of the country’s energy requirements.¹  

With a contracted pipeline of projects worth over $250 million across Asia, Kaer’s CaaS model delivers cooling to mission critical facilities to support their operations and with a focus on renewable energy and sustainable operations, saves over 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) every year. 

Under Kaer’s CaaS offering, customers simply dictate the cooling conditions they require and Kaer delivers that as and when needed by the building. 

As a part of expansion, Kaer has appointed Govindan Raghavan as India’s Managing Director. He will be, responsible for Kaer’s customer portfolio growth in India, and for managing the on-ground team providing end to end customer support.

Prior to this, he has held several senior leadership positions at Indian and global organisations. He led Carrier in India as its President & Wholetime Director, Ingram Micro as its Managing Director, NIIT Limited as its Chief Executive of Career learning business and Bhartiya Urban as its Chief Executive Officer.  

Traditionally, building owners purchase, install and run cooling systems, with high upfront costs, along with ongoing maintenance and operational costs.

Under the CaaS model, Kaer assumes all financial investments and operational responsibilities while building owners buys cooling at a fixed $/RTH (Refrigerant Ton Hour) rate on a pay-as-you-use basis.  

“Through CaaS, we believe we deliver the positive impact of cooling and accelerate the transition to a low carbon and climate resilient future. India, the second largest contributor to carbon emissions in the region, is a critical market for Kaer. We are looking to grow our operations in India and expand our local team that helps businesses transition confidently to the CaaS model, ultimately giving them a competitive advantage,” said Justin Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Kaer. 

“Raghavan has an exceptional track record of growing businesses and delivering strategic transformation and has led companies to the next level of growth and development. His unique experience set in cooling and real estate industries combined with his core competencies will help us grow our position in India, providing excellent customer propositions across the region,” added Justin. 

“Kaer is a leading provider of innovative cooling solutions across various markets, including Singapore and Malaysia. I am excited to be a part of Kaer and contribute to its continued success by leading its operations in India. CaaS offers a huge opportunity for Indian businesses to capitalize on by reducing their carbon footprint, saving capex and reducing operational and management costs,” said Govindan Raghavan, Managing Director, Kaer India.  

In India, Kaer already delivers its unique CaaS model at 1 Elpro Business Park & Elpro City Square, a mixed-use development in Pune, comprising a retail centre, automotive parts factory, offices, schools, and community spaces. 

India’s cooling demand is expected to grow five to eight times by 2037-38, as compared to 2017-18 levels. Introduced in March 2019, the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) provides a 20-year perspective and outlines actions needed to provide access to sustainable cooling.

The plan seeks to reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38. In the last two years, the progress towards this goal has been slow, making it essential for India to take more effective steps to adopt sustainable cooling.  

In India, Kaer’s CaaS model will enable buildings to move to a much better position to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications by U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) or Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) by virtue of significant energy savings.

LEED is the most widely used rating system for green buildings globally. It provides a framework for healthy, efficient, and cost-saving green buildings and is a globally-recognised symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. 

Cooling is 10% of the world’s energy consumption and cooling needs are going to triple in the next 30 years, much of which will be coming from Asia.  The traditional cooling systems used today are inefficient and contribute to rising carbon emissions. To own, operate and maintain a cooling system, building owners also need to make capital investments worth millions in a non-core business activity.  

Kaer works with the Singapore government and many other major Singapore brands including dnata, Lendlease, Great Eastern Centre, INSEAD Business School and Sembcorp.  

Kind regards,

Rachel Lim