Spanish sanitaryware major Roca is on the lookout for a suitable faucet and plastic product manufacturing unit in north India and it will retail imported bathroom tiles in India, said a top official of its Indian subsidiary here on Friday.
The official said that bathrooms are becoming technology-oriented, with sales of Bluetooth-enabled showers showing an increasing sign and the parent Roca planning to launch voice-controlled toilets.
"Our faucet and plastics (toilet seats and other items) business is logging good growth and are on the lookout for buying a manufacturing unit in north India," K.E. Ranganathan, Managing Director, Roca Bathroom Products, told reporters here.
Asked about the investment/ ticket size for the acquisitions, Ranganathan said for the faucet business it will be around Rs 40-50 crore and for the plastics Rs 15-20 crore.
Ranganathan said the production capacity at its various plants are sufficient and by 2022, evaluation will be done whether to go for a greenfield project or expand in the existing facilities.
He said the business is picking up after the dip in 2018 due to the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and the effects of demonetisation.
The company has launched its first product display studio in Tamil Nadu here, so that end-customers and architects can see and experience the products at leisure, while sales will be done by the dealers.
According to Ranganathan, the company has launched six such display studios and there will be one studio each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad soon.
The Spain-based Roca is nearly a Rs 15,000-crore group and the share of the Indian company is around Rs 1,200 crore.
According to Ranganathan, Roca in India is present in all the segments in the Rs 2,000-crore Indian sanitaryware market -- luxury (Armani Roca), premium (Roca, Johnsson Suisse), mass premium (Parryware) and budget (Johnson Pedder).
He said the company will soon come out with kids and elderly people-friendly range of bathrooms.
Queried about voice-controlled toilets, Raimundo Garcia-Figueras, Senior Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Roca, said the company is developing the product on its own and would soon launch the same.
Ranganathan said the sale of electronic urinals/ toilets are on the rise in India.
--IANS
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