TTK Prestige is exiting the modular kitchens business. It is, however, launching more products for the Indian kitchen, including a range of high-end stainless steel and ceramic cookware and storage containers during April-June 2012.
The company launched its modular kitchens business six years ago. “We realised quality was becoming an issue as we had no control over the setting up of the kitchens and our brand was suffering,” said Mr T.T. Jagannathan, Chairman, TTK Group of Companies.
“We have tied up with US-based World Kitchen to bring premium kitchenware into the country,” he said. World Kitchen owns/licences brands such as Pyrex, Corelle and Ekco. Mr Jagannathan said the Indian kitchen is now at the centre of the house and hence premium kitchenware is in demand.
Upbeat on induction cookers
Apart from the cookware range, the company is now buoyant on sales of its induction cookers, which have touched one million units this year. “Sale of induction cookers has a direct correlation with the availability of gas,” he said, adding that rural India had caught on to the trend of induction cooking. The company has sold 5.2 million pressure cookers so far during the current fiscal and expects to touch the six-million mark by the end of the year. Pointing to the trend of a quicker replacement cycle for pressure cookers, he says what used to be a lifetime purchase is now being replaced every three years. “In fact, 80 per cent of our sales are replacement sales,” he says.
The company sells its products through a 380-strong franchised retail chain across the country. It plans to increase the number of outlets to 500 by the end of next fiscal.
Manufacturing facilities
TTK Prestige currently has manufacturing facilities at Hosur, Coimbatore and Roorkee.
The company had planned a capex of Rs 235 crore for the current fiscal and has so far invested Rs 140 crore in plant expansion. It expects to invest a further Rs 85 crore in the next two-three quarters, Mr Jagannathan said.
Last year, TTK Prestige acquired 60 acres of land in Gujarat to set up a manufacturing facility there.
“The clearances are taking time and we expect to start work on the unit early next fiscal,” said Mr Jagannathan. The plant will have capacity to produce five million pieces of anodised cookware and two million pieces of stainless steel cookers.