Kohler to open outlet in Ludhiana and Chandigarh

How much do you think one should spend on his bathroom? Not much. Right? After all, realistically, it's just a place where one doesn't spend much time in a day.

But it's not a case in northern India, where major sanitary ware companies are showing high sales figures.

A few weeks before Diwali, when the Indian festive season starts, the US-based Kohler Company has forayed into the Indian market with their Indian subsidiary Kohler India. It will be opening its first showroom of the state in Ludhiana this month, followed by a second one in Chandigarh.

Speaking to Business Standard, Sharad Mathur, vice-president and commercial director of Kohler India, said Kohler India was launched in May 2006 and since then, they got a tremendous response from people of Punjab.

"Punjab contributes to our major chunk of sales in India. Just recently, we launched 15 bathtubs worth Rs 6 lakh approximately and 10 of them were sold in Ludhiana alone. People from Ludhiana as well as Chandigarh used to visit our showrooms in New Delhi and buy products from there. So keeping in mind the increasing demand of our products in Punjab, we are opening two showrooms in Ludhiana and Chandigarh," he added.

"Today high incomes of the people here have placed greater purchasing power in their hands, thus making products more affordable. With real estate industry on the boom, the Punjab market is cluttered with large national brands and many smaller unknown brands in the bathroom fixtures and fittings space. If you see the faucet market, it is around 1,550 crore out of which 48.2 per cent is only organised sector whereas vitreous China market is 850 crore and it is estimated that 60 per cent is organised," he said.

Explaining the company's entry to the Indian market, Mathur said India was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. He said: "There is a lot of investment happening in real estate and infrastructure development."