Samsonite Aims At $100m Turnover From Nashik

Samsonite India, the subsidiary of global luggage major, Samsonite Corporation has targeted a turnover of $100 million from its Nashik plant in Maharashtra. This will account for more than 10 per cent of its global turnover of $900 million.

This was disclosed by Luc Van Nevel, the worldwide president of the US based Samsonite Corporation on the eve of the formal inauguration of the Nashik plant.

Ramesh Tainwala, managing director, Samsonite India said the figure will be crossed in 1999 itself. The company has chalked out a plan to be leader in the Rs 900 crore luggage industry in India by the year 2002.

 

Tainwala, however, said indications were that the company will achieve its objective ahead of schedule.

Although the Nashik plant was inaugurated by Van navel formally on Wednesday, it commenced production about eight months ago. The Nashik plant will not only cater to the needs of the Indian market but also act as a manufacturing base for exports to the middle east market.

India is not just a potential market for Samsonite, but also a strong manufacturing base for producing and distributing Samsonite products for the entire South Asia region. Our future growth is going to come from India and Asia, said Van Navel.

Currently, 60 per cent of the production is being exported. However, in the long run Samsonite hopes to arrive at a 50:50 mix of domestic sales and exports.

Samsonite India is a 60:40 joint venture between Samsonite and Tainwala Chemicals and Plastics Ltd. Tainwala is confident that the Indian venture will break even by December 1998. He said that initial sales in the domestic market was encouraging and exceeded expectations. He however declined to give figures.

The Nashik plant has an installed production capacity of 0.5 million pieces per annum. It is the 13th manufacturing facility of the global leader in the world. Samsonite zeroed in on Nashik as the plant location after a detailed study.

Nashik was chosen in view of the investor friendly nature of Maharashtra, good electricity supply and the work culture of the people in Nashik. The plant will employ about 300 people and the average age of the workforce is 21 years. The modern factory at Nashik has been set up at a cost of Rs 80 crore and is spread over an expanse of 16 acres.

Some of the models introduced by Samsonite India so far are the Oyster range of suitcases, the Focus, Focus Deluxe and Trophy range of attache cases besides the 445 series of mens bags and purses. The products come at a price tag between Rs 430 and Rs 3,025.