A plush fit

With the arrival of foreign sanitaryware brands, consumer is spoilt for choice.

Till a few years ago, the average spend on a bathroom in a house would have been less than Rs 1 lakh. But these days bathrooms are getting expensive. And now, with more brands coming into the Indian market, the space is getting crowded.

The Rs 1,300 crore bathroom fittings and sanitaryware market saw the entry of a new player Roca, in a joint venture with Murugappa Groups' Parryware. While Roca would be concentrating mainly on the high-end bathroom fittings, it would also look at the middle and the lower segment of the market.

The high-end of the market is valued around Rs 100 crore and is growing at the rate of 25 per cent. Says Jose Miguel Roca, CEO, Roca, "We would be focusing mainly on high-end but will gradually look at other segments as our operations grow."

Roca aims to offer complete bathroom solutions, starting from fittings to sanitaryware to tiles. The fittings market comprises 46 per cent of the total market while the sanitaryware market stands at 21 per cent. The rest comprises bath tubs and tiles.

The price range for the entire bathroom starts from Rs 1.5 lakh and goes up to Rs 20 lakh. Says A Vellayan, vice chairman, Murugappa Group, "We intend to use our production and distribution abilities to complement the innovative products and designs which Roca has to offer."

Roca is also planning to engage in talks with interior designers and architects to give them a sense of the products and lay special emphasis on enhancing the retail presence.

"We would be opening about 20-30 outlets in the next two years and want to give customers a unique shopping experience," says Miguel Roca.

Roca faces competition from several Indian as well as imported brands such as Kohler. But Vellayan feels that they have an edge over the others.

"While we have seen a lot of foreign brands coming in, they haven't been able to identify the needs of Indian market as clearly as we have."

Parryware has been a market leader for quite sometime now and is aiming to have a 10 per cent market share with its JV with Roca by the end of 2007.