How Symphony Cooler Survived Bankruptcy to Become the World's Largest Air Cooling Company

In the summer of 1987, a 27-year-old architect sat in his family's new Ahmedabad home, frustrated. The air coolers installed in certain rooms—spaces unsuitable for air conditioning—were functional but painfully noisy and ugly. When he complained loudly at the breakfast table, his father, construction magnate Anil Bakeri, threw down a challenge: "Why don't you make a better one?"

That simple question sparked a revolution. By February 1988, Achal Bakeri founded Sanskrut Comfort Systems Ltd. with seed capital of just Rs 1 lakh. Today, that company—renamed Symphony Limited—is the world's largest air cooler manufacturer, operating in 60 countries with a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion.

But this isn't just a success story. It's a story of spectacular failure, near-bankruptcy, and one entrepreneur's refusal to let his dream die.

The Beginning: Making Coolers Beautiful

Achal Bakeri had recently returned from the University of Southern California with an MBA, joining his family's well-established real estate business in 1986. But after 28 years in operation, the business had set hierarchies and processes. "I felt I wasn't adding much value," Bakeri recalls. He wanted to challenge himself with something entirely his own.

The air cooler problem presented the perfect opportunity. In India's hot, dry climate, air conditioners—priced around Rs 35,000—remained luxuries. Traditional air coolers cost just Rs 2,000 but were clunky metal contraptions that rusted quickly, made terrible noise, and looked hideous.

Bakeri spent a month researching, dissecting existing models, consulting with technicians and engineering professors. He had minimal knowledge of air coolers but understood design. Working with NID alumni Dinesh and Rashmi Korjan, he developed something revolutionary: a sleek, plastic air cooler that resembled an air conditioner.

Launched in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, the Symphony desert air cooler was lightweight, portable, quiet, and aesthetically pleasing. Priced at Rs 4,300—double the cost of traditional coolers but one-eighth the price of an AC—it was aspirational yet accessible.

Bakeri took out full-page advertisements in The Times of India. The gamble paid off spectacularly. By summer 1988, Symphony had sold 1,000 units, generating Rs 40 lakh in revenue. From day one, Bakeri made a strategic decision: outsource manufacturing entirely. "Manufacturing is capital and management intensive," he explained. Symphony would focus on design, branding, and assembly.

Within a year, Symphony was profitable. By 1990, the company had established distribution across India. The early success was intoxicating.

The Rise and the Hubris

The 1990s were India's liberalization decade. Middle-class aspirations suddenly had free reign. Symphony coolers—backed by high-grade advertising featuring works by Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rodin—became status symbols. They functioned noiselessly, looked elegant, and enhanced owners' prestige.

In 1994, riding this success, Bakeri took Symphony public on the Bombay Stock Exchange, renaming it Symphony Comfort Systems (later shortened to Symphony Limited). The stock debuted, and the company's valuation soared.

But success bred overconfidence. Symphony began expanding internationally in the late 1990s. Revenues grew by leaps and bounds. Then Bakeri made a fateful assumption: air coolers were seasonal products. To stabilize year-round sales, he diversified into washing machines, water heaters, air conditioners, exhaust fans, and other household appliances.

"An entrepreneur can dream big," Bakeri reflects now, "but everything can't happen overnight. They were mistakes in judgment—getting into too many products. We were a small company without the resources. We shouldn't have expanded so rapidly."

None of the new products clicked. Some were "way ahead of their time," but most simply failed to gain traction. The company spread itself too thin. While Symphony diversified, it stopped innovating in air coolers—its core business stagnated.

By 2001, Symphony was drowning. The company filed for bankruptcy.

Refusing to Quit

For most entrepreneurs, bankruptcy means the end. But Bakeri had options—he could have simply returned to the family's prosperous real estate business. Instead, he chose the harder path.

"I had built this company from scratch," he said. "I couldn't watch it sink. Symphony had become part of my identity."

In 2003, Symphony approached the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, which helps sick companies restructure. The painful rebuild began. Symphony exhausted inventory in non-core categories and ceased all manufacturing in those segments.

"It took four years to exit all diversified businesses," Bakeri recalls. "By 2006, we were back to being a single product company."

But returning to air coolers alone wasn't enough. Symphony needed to reignite innovation. The company developed new air-cooling products and pushed into international markets aggressively.

The turnaround strategy was simple but brutal: focus, innovate, expand. From 100 distributors in 2007, Symphony grew to 800 distributors and over 20,000 dealers by 2016.

The Acquisition That Changed Everything

In 2009, Symphony made a bold move that seemed crazy to outsiders. It acquired International Metal Products Company (IMPCO), a bankrupt Mexican company, for just Rs 3.25 crore (approximately $650,000).

IMPCO wasn't just any company—it was founded by Adam Goettl, the inventor of air coolers in 1939. The company held enormous intellectual property—numerous patents, innovative designs, and decades of technological heritage. But it was losing money and on the verge of collapse.

Symphony inherited massive challenges: financial crisis, operational inefficiencies, low employee productivity, poor brand image, weak sales, and outdated distribution. Yet the acquisition gave Symphony access to the North American market, industrial cooler technology, and relationships with retailers like Walmart, Sears, and Home Depot.

Applying its asset-light model, Symphony sold IMPCO's factory (now prime real estate) and outsourced production. Within a decade, IMPCO generated $100 million in sales and Rs 100 crore in profits. Starting in 2011, Symphony imported industrial coolers from Mexico to India while exporting residential coolers from India to Mexico—creating a two-way value chain.

The Mexican turnaround proved Symphony could revive dying companies. It validated the business model globally.

Going Global, Staying Focused

Symphony's acquisitions didn't stop with IMPCO. In 2015, it acquired China's Munters Keruilai Air Treatment Equipment (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., rebranded as Keruilai, for Rs 1.5 crore. This gave Symphony one of Asia's best manufacturing and research facilities.

In 2018, Symphony purchased 95% equity in Climate Technologies, an Australian cooling and heating products manufacturer. Recently, Symphony established a subsidiary in Brazil, expanding into South America.

Each acquisition brought technology, market access, and intellectual property. Today, Symphony holds 419 trademarks, 82 registered designs, 20 copyrights, and 51 patents—creating an impenetrable moat against competitors.

Innovation Never Stops

Symphony's product line evolved dramatically. The company introduced i-Pure Technology with multi-stage air purification filters that clean air while cooling—particularly valuable in India's pollution-stricken cities. The Cloud series resembled split air conditioners, graduating coolers into aspirational objects.

In 2017, Symphony launched coolers with touch screens, voice assist, and mosquito repellent features. The company developed app-controlled models like Diet 3D 55i+. In 2022, Symphony collaborated with Disney, launching themed coolers for children.

The Duet tabletop cooler became a bestseller. Symphony now serves residential, commercial, and industrial segments—cooling supermarkets, warehouses, factories, and auditoriums worldwide. Bakeri jokes that in Russia, "they need cooling if the temperature goes above 20 degrees."

The Numbers Tell the Story

Symphony now controls 50% of India's organized household air cooler market, followed by Kenstar, Bajaj Electricals, and Usha. However, the organized sector represents only 20% of India's seven-million-unit annual market—leaving enormous growth potential.

Symphony India's turnover reached Rs 637.51 crore, with consolidated turnover hitting Rs 1,039 crore. The company derives 49% revenue from India and 51% from international markets—a true multinational. Net sales in June 2022 stood at Rs 329 crore, up 43% year-over-year.

The stock market rewarded Symphony's resilience spectacularly. Shares that traded at Rs 1.30 in 2006 soared to Rs 1,180 by December 2016—a mind-boggling 91,000% return over a decade. At one point, Symphony's stock traded around Rs 80 paisa during bankruptcy; today it trades near Rs 1,000.

Bakeri's personal wealth reached $1.26 billion by 2016, making him India's 74th richest person that year.

The Philosophy of Focus

Symphony's revival taught Bakeri profound lessons. "The lessons that failure can teach can never be taught by a lifetime of success," he reflects.

The company adopted a mantra: "One product, many markets." While competitors diversified across categories, Symphony went deep in air cooling—residential, commercial, industrial. While others manufactured everything, Symphony remained asset-light, outsourcing production to focus on design and innovation.

The direct-to-consumer approach gave Symphony a second wind during COVID-19 when traditional retail struggled. Symphony's 800 distributors and 20,000+ dealers created omnipresent availability.

The Legacy

From a dinner table conversation in 1987 to global leadership by 2025, Symphony's journey embodies resilience. Achal Bakeri could have quit when bankruptcy struck. Most would have. He didn't.

Instead, he spent a decade rebuilding—exiting mistakes, refocusing on strengths, innovating relentlessly, and expanding globally through strategic acquisitions.

Today, Symphony operates as an indigenous Indian multinational—perhaps the only Indian brand to successfully enter China, conquering a market that has historically humbled foreign entrants.

When Symphony acquired companies in Mexico, China, and Australia, employees initially worried about Indian ownership. Those fears proved unfounded. Symphony demonstrated that Indian companies could acquire Western businesses and turn them profitable—reversing decades of one-way globalization.

The company that started with Rs 1 lakh capital now serves 60 countries. The architect who complained about noisy coolers created an empire that cools factories in Russia, homes in Mexico, and warehouses in Australia.

Symphony proved that focus beats diversification, innovation beats imitation, and resilience beats bankruptcy.

That's not just building a business. That's building something that changes the world—one cool breeze at a time.