Hafele, a German company that offers hardware and furniture fitting solutions, is looking to partner with local manufacturers to offer custom design solutions in India.

Speaking to media persons at the launch of its design centre in Chennai today, Jurgen Wolf, Managing Director, Hafele South Asia, said the company is planning to produce custom solutions by partnering with local manufacturers. “We are also contemplating setting up a manufacturing plant in India,” he added. Currently, all the products are imported from Europe or Asia.

Hafele India is growing at 30 per cent annually and is seeing brisk B2B business, especially from hotels, hospitals and residential developers. According to him, custom solutions will be one of the key differentiator and to cater to that market the company is looking at producing in India.

Though Hafele India caters to the premium segment, Wolf said due to increasing disposable income and growing economy, consumers aspiring premium products have increased. This is one of the reasons why the company is growing fast in India, he added.

Every year Hafele invests ₹25 crore in building design centres and strengthen its logistics to reach consumers quicker. There are four warehouses in India, one in Sri Lanka and Dhaka each. There are plans to create more hubs in Chennai and other metros, he added.

To reach a wider audience, the company will also open more design centres in the country at an investment of ₹4-7 crore each. “We will have nine centres by August 2017,” Wolf said. There are currently seven centres in Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The company registered a turnover of ₹500 crore last year. Kitchen fitting contributes close to 40 per cent of the revenue followed by appliances at 20 per cent. The rest is contributed by other verticals such as architectural fittings, sanitaryware, surfaces and lighting. Wolf said the company expects to reach ₹1,000 crore by 2019.

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