Nilkamal Plastics to expand product range

Moulded furniture maker Nilkamal Plastics Limited (NPL) will continue to focus on its moulded furniture business while expanding its recently launched retail venture.

The Rs 400 crore strong NPL recently launched three furniture retail outlets under the banner of '@home' in Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad on Sunday.

It had announced some days ago that it would set up 50 furniture retail outlets in major cities of India in the next three years. The company is planning to open about 18 more Nilkamal Home Ideas stores dealing with moulded furniture only.

At present, the company has 12 Nilkamal Home Ideas stores. The moulded furniture market has been stagnating for some period of time but Nilkamal has been successful in maintaining growth.

In response to the sluggish market conditions at present, Nilkamal has extended its product range to ready-made furniture.

It would also continue to be firmly focussed on the moulded furniture market in which it is a strong player. "Nilkamal is planning to launch five more products by the end of current fiscal in different range and designs in low-end segment," Hiten Parekh , executive director of the company told Business Standard.

NPL would launch a range of cabinet for libraries and studies and sofas among other products. These would be sold through Nilkamal Home Ideas stores. Parekh stated the company is assisting its distributors to open shops under Nilkamal banner to change the consumer perception about plastic furniture.

NPL is also expanding its range of material handling products and aiming at emerging as major player in material handing tools segment. Presently, about 35 per cent of its revenues is coming from sales of material handling tools.

So far, in the material handling segment, NPL is known only as a crates manufacturer, he admitted.

New products would help Nilkamal revamp its image in a short span of time, he added.

"Nilkamal is planning to introduce slotted angle racks and large beans for chemicals and pharmaceutical players," said Parekh.

Manish Parekh, director of NPL, said that the company is expecting the revenues to climb to Rs 300 crore from ready-made furniture division sales in the next three years.

NPL would introduce specific divisions such as @office, @kitchen and @bathroom for each of these rooms.The @home store at present selling only furniture and gift products would soon start selling new products for new applications, such as tiles, bathtubs and taps.