US-based direct selling FMCG firm Amway will invest nearly Rs 185 crore in India over the next 2-3 years to buy space for its headquarter in the National Capital Region, besides setting up branches in other places.
"We are looking to buy our headquarter here (NCR). We have been looking for the last two years and that will be (in) an investment between Rs 100-Rs 150 crore," Amway India Managing Director and CEO William Pinckney told PTI.
The company was looking at an area with sizes varying between 30,000 sq ft and 50,000 sq ft in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida, he added.
"Over the last year-and-half, we have talked to both real estate developers and private owners," Pinckney said without divulging the details of the developers.
Besides, Amway India is also planning to have up to eight new centres across various locations in the country.
"We will develop 5-8 new centres, about 8,000-10,000 sq ft each. It will require an investment of about Rs 2-4 crore per centre," Pinckney said.
The company presently has 127 offices and pick-up centres at many places, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. It also has 55 warehouses, which are outsourced to service partners.
Direct selling is a practice of marketing or selling products without a fixed retail location. Amway sells products ranging from FMCG to healthcare supplements in India, of which about 95 per cent are locally manufactured.
The company is increasing its product portfolio in India as it aims to clock a turnover of Rs 2,500 crore by 2012-13 and add over 50,000 distributors annually.
Amway India, which has over 35 per cent market share in the Rs 3,500 crore Indian direct selling market, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based 8.2-billion-dollar Amway Corp. It entered India in 1995 and started its FMCG operations in 1998.
