Deco Group to foray into South, Delhi

Morbi-based, Deco Group, manufacturer of ceramic tiles and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), will enter the New Delhi and South Indian markets with its CFL product range before the end of this year.

Talking to Business Standard, Girishbhai Patel, chairman of Deco group, said, "We will be launching our CFL products in the South Indian market by October- November."

The company will launch 'Rema' CFL lamps in all the major cities of the south including Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, and Coimbatore. The company has partially completed its dealers and distributors networking in the south and hopes to complete the process within the next 45 days.

The company carried out a study regarding the South Indian market demand, and the population size before deciding to venture into the market. It sees huge potential for CFL lamps in the Capital following the recent Supreme Court directive to the New Delhi government to use CFL lamps in street lighting.

However, the company is initially focusing on the South Indian market. "We expect to have a turnover of Rs 5 to Rs 6 crore from the South", added Patel.

The company will be launching CFL lamps ranging from 5 watt to 21 watt for household and business establishment uses. The company will also target the industrial sector by introducing CFL lamps with 45 watt up to 85 watt for industrial and street lighting.

While in South India, the total demand for lamps is 4 lakh per day of which 20 per cent is for CFL lamps. According to Patel, CFL's market size in South India is worth Rs 100 crore which is expected to reach Rs 250 crore in next two years.

According to Patel, the total demand for ordinary lamps in India is approximately 30 lakh per day out of which only three to four lakh worth of demand has been converted into demand for CFL lamps. The total market size for lamps in India is Rs 2500"�Rs 3000 crore. Of this, Rs 750 crore worth of market is for CFL lamps.

"The market for CFL is growing at 15 to 20 per cent" said Patel. Currently, the company has a production capacity of 20,000 CFL lamps daily that will be further increased to one lakh per day by the end of the year 2007.