Godrej eyes home furniture unit in West Bengal

Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in West Bengal by early next fiscal for manufacturing mainly home furniture.

"We would start talking to the West Bengal government soon and should be able to set up the plant by early next fiscal," said Anil S Mathur, chief operating officer of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd.

At present, sale of home furniture accounts for about 27 per cent of the company's turnover.

"With IT and ITes industry booming in eastern India, especially in Kolkata, we are expecting a higher demand for office furniture in the eastern India market too," said Mathur.

At present, the office furniture market is growing at a rate of 15 per cent in India every year.

The company recently set up a manufacturing plant in Guwahati with an investment of Rs 21 crore.

"We manufacture 150 cupboards per month at our Guwahati plant," informed Mathur.

The company recently launched 'Godrej Interio' in India.

"Godrej Furniture and Interiors Group felt that there was a need to unify its home, office and special projects business lines to offer all types of furniture under one roof, therefore the Godrej Interio brand," informed Mathur.

The Godrej Interio range offers furniture in wood, metal, composite materials, etc., and is available across India through 42 company-managed Godrej Lifespace stores and a network of 800 Godrej Interio channel partners, informed Mathur.

The company is also diversifying its furniture business to service client segments like sports stadium builders, healthcare and hospitality units and marine furniture users.

"We are investing Rs 16 crore for manufacturing furniture for the healthcare sector," said Mathur and added that the company was targeting a growth of 33 per cent from the present 25 per cent by the end of this fiscal.

The company has lined up Rs 25 crore for sales promotions this year.

"We are making an overall investment of Rs 200 crore at present," said Mathur.

Godrej has a market share of 25 per cent in eastern India and registered a turnover of Rs 600 crore last year.

"We are investing close to Rs 100 crore in technology and brand building and expecting a turnover of Rs 800 crore this fiscal and a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore by 2010," claimed Mathur.

"We are already exporting to UK and USA and a host of other countries. We are looking at tie-ups in France and Italy and are expecting our exports to grow by 15 per cent by the end of this fiscal," said Mathur.

The company is also planning to set up 4 more company-owned showrooms in West Bengal by the end of this fiscal and is also planning a three-fold increase the number of its showrooms to 90 within the next 3 years from the present 38 in India.