Faber to set up plant in Pune

Faber India, the domestic arm of Italian kitchen appliances firm Faber Spa, said today it has entered into a distribution tie-up with Whirlpool and is aiming for 30 per cent growth in sales turnover at Rs 52 crore this year.

The company was also in the process of setting up another plant in Pune (Maharashtra) with an investment of Rs 12-15 crore. The facility would be operational by 2007, managing director Pralhad Bhutada said.

"We have entered into the agreement with Whirlpool and we target to surpass the industry growth of 20 to 25 per cent, achieving Rs 52 crore top line for the 12-month period ending December 2004," he said. The Rs 200 crore Indian 'lifestyle' kitchen market was in a nascent stage but was poised to grow as duties were coming down, he said.

At present, the existing Pune plant of the company has a combined production capacity of 15,000 units a day.

"We need to augment capacity and set up new plant as the chimney industry alone would turn into a million units market by 2010. We have been continuously investing in our existing plant to cater to the growing domestic market where we are the only organised player," Bhutada said. Glen, Faber's nearest competitor in the domestic market, imports its products, he said.

"We get the benefit of economies of scale but going gets tough for importers due to high duties," he said. Growth in the niche lifestyle kitchen market would be fuelled by changing consumer demand and lifestyle, and increased activity in real estate, Bhutada said.

"Next year we will see a lot of action in the market. We anticipate the chimney market alone will grow to 2.5 lakh units," he said.

With Faber India's tie-up with Whirlpool, the two companies were working on product selection and the range would be available by March next year, he said.

Close on the heels of the distribution agreement with Whirlpool, Electrolux has also firmed up plans to enter the Indian kitchen appliances market by next year.

Faber India would also try to tap emerging markets in smaller towns like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Lucknow, Kanpur and Coimbatore, he said.

The company primarily manufactures chimneys, kitchen hobbs and cooking ranges at its Pune plant.