Bajaj Electricals is looking to double its turnover to ₹7,000 crore in the current fiscal, the company’s newly-appointed Executive Director Anuj Poddar said.

The electrical appliances-maker posted a turnover of ₹4,716.39 crore in FY18.

The company is also planning to increase its current distributor base to about 2 lakh by the end of the fiscal year from the present of around 1.85 lakh, he said.

Distribution network

“The challenge in the consumer durable sector is that it is a low-entry barrier business, but a differentiating factor for us is our distribution network and our brand legacy,” said Poddar.

He attributed its “strong distribution network” to the Range Reach Expansion Programme (RREP) , which was rolled out by the firm’s late joint Managing Director Anant Bajaj. Under this, the company replenishes the items that are being sold to maintain inventory at the right level.

He also said that Bajaj Electricals has decided to sell Morphy Richards products through its distribution channel.

Poddar, who is barely a fortnight into the role, said he intends to drive growth, both in terms of topline and bottomline, creating a positive disruption, but in a seamless manner.

Preserving margins

Due to the rupee depreciation and increase in commodity prices, and its impact on the margin, he pointed out how a lot of competitors’ bottomline was affected, though the topline remained strong. He said that Bajaj Electricals was able to overcome this due to some corrective measures in distribution, of which they are “seeing benefits now”, and the principle of maintaining price stability by not indulging in discounts and price undercuts.

“From an investor perspective, we are very conscious of preserving our margins, so that if there are changes in the cost, we try to recoup that and balance it out so that the margins are not affected,” said Poddar.

Expansion plans

When asked about the global expansion plans of the company, Poddar stated that for the first two months, focus will be mostly on opportunities in the domestic market, and that he will personally start understanding and growing the export market in the next quarter.

Among the international markets, he felt that Africa was a “very vibrant market”, while the Gulf, South-east Asia, SAARC, Sri Lanka were also other prominent markets.

Calling Bajaj Electricals an “80-year-old young brand”, Poddar said his agenda is to bring more energy and vibrancy to the brands to make it more “young and innovative”, while also keeping the legacy and trust of the company intact.

“We intend to grow both our product range and our penetration in every single product that we are in,” he said, while also emphasising on the importance of product innovation.

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