Roca Group’s board member Ferran Vilaclara is visiting India to assess the growth potential of the market and announce fresh investments for capex and new categories. There are indications that India is Roca’s key market, and it is to be developed as an export hub for bathroom fittings by the 1.8 billion euro Spanish sanitaryware major.
Global bathroom fittings leader Roca Group has announced that it would be investing Rs 130 crore in India in the current financial year. While Rs 80 crore would be invested on regular manufacturing activities, Rs 50 crore would be spent on setting up a new polymer pipes manufacturing facility in Rajasthan, and second in the country. India is Roca’s key market for growth and investment, and it is planning for major market expansion across the country.
Roca Group’s board member and senior MD for APAC div of Roca Sanitario SA, Ferran Vilaclara, is in India to review growth plans of the company’s subsidiary Roca Bathroom Products Pvt Ltd, and announce various investments. Over the next two weeks he will travel to different cities to gain firsthand understanding of the Indian market and the growth potential it offers.
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“India is a key market for us and the phenomenal growth potential that we have witnessed in the country has further emboldened us to strengthen our position here. Our new investments are focused on delivering quality, ensuring product affordability, and building brand loyalty to deliver long term growth. We intend to continue investing on expansion and capacity building in India. Today, I can confidently say that Roca India is soon going to be the next big export hub from Asia,” Vilaclara said.
According to Roca India’s managing director K E Ranganathan, there has been robust growth in sales of sanitaryware under the Roca and Parryware brands, and the plants are running at full capacity. The company has also been exporting limited volumes to markets of America, Germany, Spain, Australia, Poland, Middle East, Turkey and a host of other ASEAN countries. “We are witnessing record production every month. In the quarter of Jan-March 2022 our sales have grown by 25 percent. There is a need to increase capacities across our eight factories, and we see this as an indicator of the overall demand for the brand in India.”
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Talking about the polymer pipes business, Ranganathan said that the company had entered this segment under the Parryware brand in December 2018, by setting up a plant in Madurai. “We have been catering to the markets of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar and West Bengal. Once our second plant becomes operational by 2024, we will be able to cater to the northern markets as well. This expansion will be a stepping stone to becoming a pan-India operator in the pipes segment.”
Roca India is targeting a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore, which according to Ranganathan will be achieved, “through our unique customer-centric approach, thrust on loyalty programs, higher production and productivity, and thrust on new and rural markets.”
