Mumbai, May 9 (PTI) Ceramic tiles manufacturer, RAK Ceramics India, plans to set up a tile plant in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, at an invest Rs 600 crore over the next 18 months, a top company official said.
RAK Ceramics is a subsidiary of $1 billion UAE-headquartered Ras Al Khaimah (RAK).
"We will be setting up an unit in Ahmedabad with a production capacity of 10,000 sq mtr tiles per day. The investment will be over Rs 600 crore and the plant will be commissioned by early-2012. We also intend to scale-up the capacity to 70,000 sq mtrs tiles per day in the next seven years," RAK Ceramics' Director, Sunil Malesha, told PTI here.
The funds would be a mix of debt and internal accruals, Malesha said, adding that company plans to raise Rs 300 crore debt from the World Bank.
This would be the company's second unit in India after the vitrified tiles plant in Andhra Pradesh, which has a production capacity of 30,000 sq mtrs of tiles per day.
The company, which plans to raise Rs 150-250 crore through an IPO by 2012, expects a 33 per cent growth in its revenue this year at Rs 40 crore, Malesha said, adding that the company expects a total turnover of Rs 1,500-1,700 crore in the next seven years.
The company also exports its tiles to countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Israel, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Australia.
The company plans to up its distribution network in the country in the view of the growth in the real estate sector, Malesha said.
"With the growth in the real estate sector we also plan to increase our distibution network to garner more sales. People these days have become more style-conscious," he said.
The company also recently entered into a joint venture with Germany-based Kludi Group, a global player in the bath and kitchen fittings, to roll-out luxurious bath fittings in India.
"Bath fittings have really come of age from a mere necessity to a style statement and the segment is growing fast and we intend to tap the potential present in this segment," Malesha said.
The company targets a Rs 10 crore revenue in this year from the joint venture.
RAK Ceramics will offer a wide range of taps, showers, and faucets branded as JOOP, Espirit, KLUDI and KLUDI-RAK in India. The price of these products range from Rs 8,000 to Rs four lakh.
The company also plans to launch over 200 designs over the next couple of years in the country and is looking at expanding its dealer network as well as exclusive stores around the country. Currently, it has 750-dealers and 8O point of sales.
