Godrej & Boyce unifies furniture biz brand

Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing today announced a new unified brand for its furniture business, Godrej Interio.

The company, which earlier had separate brands for its home and office furniture and special projects lines has brought all three business together under the Interio brand.

The idea behind the new brand was to present one common brand to the consumer to cater to their different needs. "Godrej Interio is an amalgamation of the values of quality and trust of Godrej with a contemporary outlook towards business," Jamshyd Godrej, CMD of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing, said.

The company is also looking at expanding its product offerings by launching stadium seating and healthcare and hospital furniture by the end of the year. "The hospitality segment is one more segment that we will be looking at entering next year," Anil Mathur, COO of Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing. Over a period of time, the new segment would contribute about 20% to the brand turnover, he added.

The turnover of the furniture division was Rs 600 crore last year and the company is aiming for a 33% growth in business over the next one year. "For 2006-07 we are targetting a turnover of Rs 800 crore which we expect to go up to Rs 1500 by 2010," Godrej said.

The company will be investing upto Rs 100 crore in technology and brand building over the next few years as well.

At present, there is a larger skew towards office furniture with that category accounting for 67% of the sales, but over the next three years, it would balance out to a 50:50 ratio between home and office furniture, Mathur said.