Khaitan Elec to foray into retail

Khaitan Electricals, one of the fastest growing electricals company in India, is foraying into the retail business with the launch of two parallel range of stores, Khaitan City and Khaitan Fantasy. Both would be run on franchisee model.

These initiatives are aimed at transforming itself into an electrical solutions conglomerate. Khaitan City would be one-stop shop for all Khaitan electrical solutions.

"This would help consumers find all kinds of electrical gadgets under one roof, instead of hoping from one electrical shop to the other for different electrical products," said Sunil K Khaitan, vice-chairman, Khaitan group.

While, Khaitan Fantasy outlets would stock a wide range of underlight fans from the company.

"We are setting up the first Khaitan City outlet in Uttar Pradesh by end of November this year," he said. The second outlet would come up in January in Rajasthan.

"By the end of 2007, we are planning 200 exclusive Khaitan City outlets all over India, namely Mumbai, Punjab, Ludhiana, Gurgaon, Delhi, Pune, Kochi, Bangalore, Chennai, among others," Khaitan said.

The first Khaitan Fantasy outlet would come up in Kolkata in January 2007, and then in 17 other locations all over India by March 2007.

"We hope to garner a business of Rs 200 crore in the next two years from Khaitan City. Khaitan Fantasy is expected to achieve a turnover of Rs 100 crore within two years," Khaitan said.

Spread over close to 1000 sq ft, Khaitan Fantasy outlets would stock only designer underlight fans ranging from Rs 7000 to Rs 1 lakh.

"There is a 15 per cent growth in sales of fans at present, and through Khaitan Fantasy we are trying to tap this high-end fan segment," Khaitan said. The company is also planning a new manufacturing plant in Dehradun by March 2007 with an investment of Rs 12 crore.

This plant would have a capacity of 1.5 million fans per year. Khaitan Electricals Limited is also in talks with Wal-Mart stores in the US.

"We plan to stock our fans in Wal-Mart and tap the US market. Things would be finalised by March 2007," informed Khaitan.

The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 350 crore by the end of this fiscal with close to Rs 15 crore from exports to Middle East, South East and African countries.