White Tiger set to invest Rs 20 crore

Company has 25 outlets in Delhi & NCR, to set up plants in Ludhiana & Panchkula

White Tiger, the first and only ISO-certified dry-cleaning brand in India, is all set to invest Rs 20 crore in Punjab and Haryana. The company plans to put up two plants at two locations (in Ludhiana and Panchkula) to cater for the two belts in this region.

The Ludhiana plant will serve the various towns of Punjab, while the Panchkula plant will concentrate on markets in Chandigarh, Mohali, Shimla and Ambala. The company has decided to open 4-6 outlets in each town. It has decided to commence operations by September.

Talking to Business Standard, the vice-president of the company, Rajiv Sekhri, said the company had been set up four years ago to cater for the markets of Delhi and the National Capital Region.

He said the laundry and dry cleaning market in India was highly unorganised and there was an immediate need of branded players in this segment. In a market survey, the company had found that designer outfits were becoming an in-thing, according to him. This ensured tremendous scope for quality service for garment cleansing. "A testimony to this fact is that in a period of less than four years, we have opened 25 outlets in Delhi and the NCR and plan to reach 40 by the end of the next financial year," said Sekhri.

"We preferred to expand in Punjab before other regions as people here have a flamboyant lifestyle and we expect good business from Punjab," he said. He said the firm had identified a location in an area of two acres in Ludhiana for setting up the plant. He indicated Ludhiana in itself was a huge market and the firm expects to open 15-20 collection centres in the town.

The company has an exclusive sgreement with the HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Lts) to open the oil firm's collection centres in White Tiger's outlets. The company is also open to franchise agreement for outlets in the coming years.

He said the company had a state-of-the-art plant at Noida and planned to replicate the same in Ludhiana and Panchkula. "We will finalise the location for the Panchkula plant by April end," he said.

He said the Noida plant had a capacity to cleanse 25,000 garments every day.

"Water is passed through imported raisins to make it gentle on garments and quality detergents are used to keep the shine of the garment intact," said Sekhri.

The company has a network of its own vehicles to transport consignments from collection centres to the plant. It is planning to make its foray in Banglore and Hydrabad in the second phase of expansion.

The firm clocked in a turnover of Rs 4 crore in 2004-05, and expects to clock in a turnover of RS 6.5 crore in 2005-06.

"Once our network is completed in Punjab, we expect an annual turnover of Rs 3-4 crore from each belt in Punjab," said Sekhri.

White Tiger is promoted by Shiv-Vani Oil and Gas Services Ltd, a company that has interets in the oil and gas sector.

This the first venture of the company outside its core business of oil.