Kanpur footwear firm to enter Rajasthan market

The Kanpur-based Leayan Overseas Pvt Ltd is planning to expand its consumer base and enter the Rajasthan market in a big way.

The company, which sells shoes under the brand name Red Chief in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and some parts of Punjab and Haryana, also plans to enter the ladies' footwear segment.

Talking to Business Standard, Manoj Gyanchandani, managing director of Leayan Overseas, said the company would launch a vigorous marketing campaign to increase its presence in several new markets. He said the company had decided to cover the new markets in a phased manner.

He said the company wanted to establish its brand in one market and then enter into adjacent markets, reaping logistical benefits. "It also results in saving on advertising cost and setting up the supply chain," Gyanchandani said. "We are aiming at a 25 per cent growth a year," said Gyanchandani, a scion of the family of promoters of Ghari detergents.

Remarking that there were few leather products manufacturing companies who had their own brand, he said Leayan Overseas was focusing on developing its own brand as part of a long-term strategy.

Most companies sold their products under the dealer's name in the domestic market or importers' brand name in the foreign markets, he said.

Gyanchandani said the company, which owned 50 designs, was spending the 10 per cent of its turnover on brand building. Trained in shoe designing in the Czech Republic and Italy, Gyanchandani said he wanted to chart his own path than joining the family detergents business.

Since its launch in 1997, the company has been making a steady progress. It owns a 200,000 sq feet leather per month capacity tannery. To run the unit in its full capacity, only two-thirds of it is under use now, the company wants to launch new products soon.

Of the Leayan Overseas' Rs 12 crore turnover, Red Chief brand shoes contribute Rs 9 crore. The rest comes from the sale of finished leather.

On the competition from China, he said Indian shoes were comparable to Chinese products both in quality as well as pricing. Also it would not be possible for Chinese companies to flood the Indian market, he added.