Bell Ceramics to ramp up capacity

Vadodara-based ceramic tiles firm Bell Ceramics has set a sales target of Rs 800 crore by the end of fiscal 2007-08. To achieve this target, the company has drafted a plan called Vision-2008.

Bell, which recently started importing vitrified tiles from a Sri Lanka-based company, has finalised plans to go for capacity expansion at its plants in Hoskote near Bangalore and Dora in Bharuch.

"We are eyeing sales of Rs 200 crore by the end of this fiscal, thus clocking a rise of over 40 per cent from the Rs 140 crore turnover reported last fiscal. We are targeting a turnover of Rs 800 crore by end of fiscal 2007-08. We expect 90 per cent of the sales to come from the retail market. Institutional sales of ceramic tiles and trading will contribute for the remaining 10 per cent, as the retail market is showing a faster growth," said A N Rangaswamy, senior vice-president, Bell Ceramics.

Bell had reported sales of Rs 121 crore at the end of fiscal 2002-03 against sales of Rs 101 crore in the previous year.

"We have recently drafted a plan called Vision-2008 which will be followed to become a Rs 800 crore company in 2008. We will target Rs 1,000 crore sales by 2010 as we expect the real estate market to do well during the next few years with more and more customers opting for branded ceramic tiles. Looking at the potential in the value-added ceramic tiles market in the country, last December we had hiked the capacity of our plant at Hoskote to 20,000 sq metre per day from 10,000 sq metre. While we are also planning to expand the capacity of our Dora plant from 10,000 sq metre per day to 13,500 sq metre per day by this September," Rangaswamy said.

Bell is also planning to hike the capacity of the Hoskote plant next year when it would be adding another 6,000 sq metre per day.

The company, which has recently tied up with a Sri Lankan vitrified tile manufacturing company for import of such tiles to Indian market, however, believes that if the market demand of vitrified tiles remain steady for the next one or two years, Bell may also enter into manufacturing of vitrified tiles on its own.

"We are also looking at the opportunities in B and C class cities and towns where the purchase power of people has increased substantially. As Bell products are now available in 4,000 multi-brand retail outlets across the country, we are planning to hike our presence in outlets. The number of authorised dealers will also be hiked from 800 during the year to make Bell products more accessible in the smaller cities and towns," he said.