While its present brand, Grundfos, is a premium product, the comparatively new brand - DAB - will be a model of lower cost to address the market which is dominated by local players.
The company has been experimenting the market for the last two years during when the Italian brand of Grundfos, DAB, was launched in India. The brand will be focusing on domestic pumps market, which is currently at around Rs 1,000-crore size.
Also Read
"We need to have a significant growth and the market in India is one of the biggest market which we would like to address. We hope to enter the domestic mass market of pumps in a big way in 2015," said N K Ranganath, managing director, Grundfos Pumps India Private Ltd.
While the products are expected to compete with the local manufacturers, who offer low cost pumps, the DAB products would be 8-10 per cent higher than the price of the local products. The company said, while its focus would be on quality, it would look at cost-efficient methods to offer competitive price to win the market. The sales of DAB at present is around Rs 8-crore.
In order to address the mass market, the company would also be looking at increasing its distribution network in the coming years, he said. At present, it has 70 distributors and point of sales of around 150, which caters to the domestic market.
By 2015, it is planning to have 350 point of sale dealers and 100 distributors in the country.
In the long run, it is looking at having more than 5,000 sales points to cater the requirements in the Indian market.
It would also be looking at acquiring an Indian brand if it fits into the requirement of a larger distribution network, a brand name and a fairly decent quality, he said.
The company's euro 30-million capacity expansion plan, which is now delayed for some time due to the market slowdown, is expected to start soon. The capacity expansion for its assembly lines would see addition of lines for Grundfos pumps, DAB components for exports and for exports of Grundfos products with castings and coatings. However, plans are yet to be finalised and is expected to see more clarity next year.
The Indian subsidiary of the $4-billion Grundfos Holdings, is expected to post a turnover of around Rs 320-crore in 2013, while it was around Rs 305-crore during the previous year and the growth was not as per the expectation owing to the slowdown , said the company official.