Air Purifier Price September 2026: Croma vs Reliance Digital vs Vijay Sales

Air purifiers are an unusually easy category to compare, because the three electronics chains stock a lot of the same machines and print the same stated maximum retail price against them. We read all three shelves on the afternoon of 11 September 2026 — 41 listings in total — and found five models on more than one of them.

The Eureka Forbes 270 is Rs. 9,099 at Reliance Digital against Rs. 9,499 at both Croma and Vijay Sales, all three quoting an identical stated MRP of Rs. 11,700. Four hundred rupees, and the other two chains match each other to the rupee. Move one model up and the order changes: the Eureka Forbes 355 is Rs. 14,990 at Vijay Sales, Rs. 15,299 at Reliance Digital and Rs. 16,499 at Croma, again off one shared MRP of Rs. 22,000, a spread of Rs. 1,509.

Then it flips again. The Philips AC4221/60 — the same model number printed on both listings — is Rs. 24,490 at Croma and Rs. 26,749 at Reliance Digital, both against a stated Rs. 27,995. Croma is Rs. 2,259 cheaper on the one machine where the model numbers match exactly. Three matched models, three different winners.

The clearest thing on this page is the Dyson HushJet Compact, which Reliance Digital and Vijay Sales both stock and Croma does not. Reliance Digital sells it at Rs. 29,900. Vijay Sales sells it at Rs. 29,899. One rupee apart, on the same afternoon.

What differs is the claim printed next to the price. Reliance Digital states an MRP of Rs. 34,900 and badges the machine 14% off. Vijay Sales states an MRP of Rs. 29,900 and badges it 0% off. Identical machine, identical money, and one retailer is describing it as a saving of five thousand rupees while the other is describing it as no saving at all.

Both listings are duplicated on their own shelves too, which is how we noticed: Reliance Digital lists the black and white HushJet separately at Rs. 29,900 each, and Vijay Sales lists it twice at Rs. 29,899 and Rs. 29,857. Neither retailer is doing anything improper — a stated MRP is the manufacturer's claim and either figure may be a live one somewhere — but if you were choosing between these two chains on the strength of the discount percentage, you would choose the one that is a rupee more expensive.

Philips is the only brand carried in numbers by all three chains — five listings at Croma, three at Reliance Digital and three at Vijay Sales — and each chain discounts it differently. Reliance Digital badges its three Philips purifiers at 4%, 4% and 6%. Croma badges its five at 11% to 22%. Vijay Sales badges its three at 14% to 26%.

That is not three different sales running in the same week. It is three list-price policies applied to one manufacturer's range, and the AC4221/60 shows what it costs: an identical model number, an identical stated MRP of Rs. 27,995, and Rs. 2,259 between the two prices. The chain with the shallowest Philips badges is the one charging more.

The same split shows up on the shelves as a whole. Croma's fifteen purifier listings run a median badge of 19% and reach 50% on a Honeywell; Reliance Digital's ten run a median of 14% and reach 48%, also on a Honeywell, but bottom out at 2%; Vijay Sales's nine run a median of 17% and never exceed 32%. Honeywell is the brand pulling the deep badges at two of the three chains, and Vijay Sales does not stock it at all.

Croma has the widest range by a distance: fifteen listings from Rs. 9,499 to Rs. 86,990, and it is the only one of the three carrying an LG PuriCare above Rs. 80,000 and a Dyson Cool TP12 at Rs. 54,990. It is also the only chain of the three whose air-purifier category contains nothing but air purifiers.

Reliance Digital has the cheapest machine on any of the three shelves — a Honeywell Touch V1 at Rs. 5,159, badged 48% off Rs. 9,999, which is Rs. 2,840 below anything at Vijay Sales and Rs. 4,340 below anything at Croma. Two of its twelve category listings are not air purifiers at all: a Philips humidifier at Rs. 790 and a HYGIA air steriliser at Rs. 999, both of which would appear at the top of a price sort.

Vijay Sales has the narrowest range, nine purifiers between Rs. 7,999 and Rs. 29,899, and five of its fourteen category listings are dehumidifiers costing up to Rs. 49,990. It is the only chain of the three carrying Shark, at Rs. 28,990, and the only one whose deepest badge stays under a third off.

Air purifiers are a category where you cannot see the product working, which makes customer evidence unusually valuable. All three chains publish almost none of it.

Reliance Digital and Vijay Sales published no star average and no rating count on a single listing we read — not on the Rs. 5,159 Honeywell, not on the Rs. 58,849 LG. Croma does publish ratings, but thinly: six of its fifteen purifier listings carry a star average and the largest sample among them is eight ratings. Several show five stars from a single rating.

So the honest summary of this comparison is a narrow one. On the models all three stock, the gap is between nothing and Rs. 2,259, and which chain wins depends on the model rather than the chain. Nothing on any of these three shelves tells you whether the machine is any good, and the discount percentage tells you least of all.