Growing hospitality sector, increasing income drive sanitaryware market

What would you spend Rs 70 lakh on? On a new house, maybe on a customised car or even on starting a new business. How about spending it on a bathroom? Does it sound like money going down the 'drain'? Well, there are people in the city who wouldn't mind doing just that.

And Hyderabad-based trading house, Value Line Trade Private Limited, that houses international range of sanitaryware, bath fittings and tiles, is gaining business because of this trend.

The growth in the hospitality sector, coupled with the increasing incomes of people, seem to be the driving forces behind this drift. For, the major customers of Value Line include hotels like Taj GVK Hotels, ITC Kakatiya Sheraton and Hotel Viceroy.

This apart, there are others like Care Hospital and Usha Kiron Movies that have bought various products from the trading house.

Narinder Anand, who owns and manages the trading house, says that not only are organisations in the hospitality sector buying his stuff but popular personalities in the entertainment sector like Shekhar Suman and Keerthi Reddy have also laid their hands on the international range of products at his store.

"This is the only trading house in south India where you will be able to get exclusive international brands like Villeroy & Boch from Germany, ToTo from Japan, Jacuzzi from the US and Viva from Italy. We also house some Indian brands like Parryware and Boss Profile," Anand says.

Anand says that his business has grown by 40 per cent over the last year, and although he supplies in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai apart from Hyderabad, the 'city of nawabs' brings him a greater part of his revenues as compared to other metros.

Incidentally, in foreign countries, the market for premium sanitaryware products is so huge that companies have resorted to hiring designers to add an aesthetic appeal to their products.

Two names in this domain include the French designer Philip Starck and his English counterpart Norman Foster. The latter has even designed Berlin's Parliament and Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport. These designers render their services for a fee or sometimes even a royalty.

Value Line will be soon sourcing a designer product from Jacuzzi called La Scala that is a whirlpool bath with a 42-inch high definition plasma TV monitor and a floating remote control inside it. The product is priced at a whopping Rs 30 lakh, and Anand believes that there will be takers for this as well.

His optimism may be well-established as according to Harmesh Sharma, purchase manager, Taj GVK Hotels, they as a hospitality group have been focussing on international brands in sanitaryware to meet their customer demands.

"With increased corporate travel, our guests have become more aware and savvy as to what high standards construe. We, therefore, spend a good amount on sanitaryware products and are constantly working towards upgrading them," he adds.

Another dealer in sanitaryware products, Doshi Brothers, also supports the view of international brands market picking up in Hyderabad.

"People today are more conscious of the quality rather than the cost factor and are willing to spend good amounts for sanitaryware products," Ketan Doshi, owner of Doshi Brothers says, adding, "that's why most of the brands that we stock are international."