Roca explores manufacturing plant in Gujarat

Sanitaryware maker Roca India is evaluating a greenfield integrated manufacturing plant in Gujarat amid an economic slowdown, a company official said. With its Rs 250 crore capital expenditure plan in the country, the Indian arm of Spanish Roca Group remained optimistic about the future as the slowdown is considered as a short- term disruption, Roca India Managing Director K E Ranganathan said.

He said the company enjoys a 36 percent share of the Rs 2,500 crore organized sanitaryware market in India and hoped that the economic situation in the country would get stabilized soon. "Roca is here for a long haul and we are not perturbed with the current slowdown. It is a short-term issue. We are evaluating an integrated greenfield manufacturing facility in Gujarat," Ranganathan told PTI.

The company is "open for acquisition if there is a good asset," he said. "There are no manufacturing assets with large capacities in the market. We had already earmarked Rs 200 crore for acquisition or a greenfield plant and another Rs 50 crore for existing seven plants," he said.

The company which operates through Roca Bathroom Products is still driven by Indian brand 'Parryware' which was taken over by the world's largest sanitaryware maker from the Murrugappa Group in 2008. Ranganathan said Gujarat has an advantage for the industry and Roca is the only sanitaryware major that does not have any manufacturing presence in the state.

Of its seven manufacturing facilities, Roca India has one for faucets, two for plastic products and the rest for sanitary ceramics. He said if the company goes ahead with its plan for an integrated plant, the facility is expected to house capacities for plastic products and faucet in the same complex, he said.

Of the Rs 8,000 crore faucet market, the organized sector is worth Rs 4,000 crore but Roca India is way behind from the top player with just about 10 percent share, he said. "We are catching up fast in faucets. We need to add capacity," he said.

Ranganathan has been entrusted by the parent company to double the share of India revenue from 8 percent to 16 percent to its global turnover in the next 3 years. He was heading Parryware till it was acquired by the Barcelona-based Roca Group.

The brand 'Parryware' currently contributes significantly to Roca India's Rs 1,300 crore revenue, though the company is giving fresh thrust on the Roca brand in India. The sanitaryware maker had recently appointed R Sreenivasan as the head of marketing for India operations for leading the marketing activities for both the brands.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)