GripWell to invest Rs 2 cr in upgrade

Firm expecting revenues of Rs 24 crore this fiscal, focuses on overseas expansion

Seeing the surge in demand for garden tools and striking tools in the US, Jalandhar-based GripWell Tools Industries is planning to increase the production capacity of its new plant with Rs 2 crore.

With this investment, the production capacity of the new plant will increase by 1,000 tonnes per annum, and the expansion is likely to be completed by April.

The company is a 100 per cent export-oriented unit. Ninety-five per cent of its production is for the US market and the remaining 5 per cent for Latin American countries.

The company has two units producing garden tools and striking tools. The combined production capacity of the two is about 5,000 tonnes per annum.

In October last year, the company started its new unit, in addition to the existing one, having a capacity to produce 3,000 tonnes of garden tools and striking tools a year.

For technical assistance, the company entered into collaboration with Ames True Temper, US, which manufactures lawn and garden tools, and is also one of the oldest and largest companies manufacturing garden tools and striking tools, with 14 factories in the US.

Talking to Business Standard, GripWell Tools Industries Vice-President Jasmit Rana said, "The demand for Indian garden tools and striking tools is growing in the US market because of quality. Indian tools are costlier than the Chinese ones, but on quality we are far ahead of the Chinese."

Rana said the company had been ISO 9001:2000 accredited since December 2003, and that it was constantly trying to upgrade not just product quality but all aspects of services.

Commenting on the domestic market, he said, "We have not yet decided to explore it, but it will be a big market in the near future. Right now we are focusing on the international market only. In the current financial year, we are expecting to touch a turnover of Rs 24 crore. Most probably with enhanced production capacity we are hopeful of achieving 25 per cent growth in the next financial year."

Highlighting the bottlenecks in the trade, Rana said steel prices should remain steady if the government wanted to encourage exports, and secondly, there should be uninterrupted power supply, which is not here at present.