It is one of the leading European manufacturers and distributors of major domestic appliances (washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, fridges, freezers, cookers, hoods, ovens and hobs).

[2] Founded in 1975 and listed on the Borsa Italiana between 1987 and its 2014 purchase by Whirlpool Corporation, the group posted sales of €2.7 billion in 2013.

From 1981 the company went through a period of crisis, which ended in 1984, when Vittorio Merloni, having concluded his presidency of Confindustria, returned to managing Indesit.

In 1987, Merloni Elettrodomestici, already publicly listed, acquired Indesit (founded in Torino as Industria Elettrodomestici Spirea Italia SpA, a subsidiary of Spirea srl, by Armando Campioni, Adelchi Candellero and Filippo Gatta in 1953), its biggest rival on the Italian market which also had a certain international presence, as well as 33% of Philco Italy.

On 31 July 2009 the Indesit closed its plant at Kinmel Park, Bodelwyddan Denbighshire, Wales, UK due to a "continuing decline" in the market.

On 9 June 2010, the company announced an investment of 120 million[specify] over the three-year period 2010–2012 to consolidate its presence in Italy and simultaneously the closure of the two plants Brembate (Bergamo) and Refrontolo (Treviso).

[10] In 2017, police investigation pointed to an Indesit made Hotpoint fridge freezer, model FF175BP of 2006-2009 (discontinued since then), caused the Grenfell Tower fire.

Indesit Company has eight production sites, of which three are in Italy (Fabriano, Comunanza and Caserta), and five elsewhere (two in Poland, one in the UK, one in Russia and one in Turkey) counting 16 thousand employees.