French home appliances maker Groupe SEB plans to launch its range of products, including cookware and home care under the Tefal brand, in over 60 cities in India by next year.
The company, which acquired Indian brand Maharaja Whiteline in 2014, today launched products across segments such as linen care, air purifiers and cookware.
The Tefal brand of products were launched in Delhi and the company plans to cover other major metro cities by next month.
"We want to limit ourselves to 10-12 cities initially and it will take time to go to non-metro cities, after all we have limited resources which needs to be prioritised and by next year we will launch in about 60-70 cities," Groupe SEB India CEO Sunil Wadhwa told PTI.
He, however, did not comment on revenue target saying "we can disclose that only after our EGM".
Commenting on domestic manufacturing of Tafel products, he said the company would manufacture few products at its plant in Himachal Pradesh and will import few from its factories in France and Vietnam, depending upon the needs.
It has a manufacturing unit at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.
"We need to compete in the market so we will not let the import cost come down to the consumer," he added.
The company which already has presence in India after the acquisition of Maharaja Whiteline, considers Phillips as a competition in the electrical segment.
"In electricals, we consider Phillips as a serious competition in India and in other segments such as cookware I think we have the best of figures but the nearest competitor would be Prestige," Wadhwa said at the post launch interaction.
Regarding pricing of the products launched today, he said "our prices will be very near to our competitors, might be 2 or 4 per cent up and down".
With regard to distribution strategy, he said, "Single brand retail is not possible so we will wait for government policies to change".
As of now we will rely on traditional and modern trade, in addition to e-commerce, he added.
Groupe SEB has gained traction in the juicer, mixer grinder segment with the Maharaja brand and has brands such as Moulinex, Rowenta and Tefal under its portfolio.
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