Kajaria Ceramics, one of India’s leading floor-and-wall tile makers, which grew rapidly in the past five years to make a ₹2,400-crore turnover in 2014-15 in spite of the dullness in the construction sector, is in an expansion mode.
The company, which made a big leap by branching off into vitrified tiles, is opening its ninth manufacturing facility next month at Virat Nagar in Rajasthan. It recently announced the setting up of a plant for polished vitrified tiles near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. This plant will be operational in two years.
“We are the number one tile manufacturer in the country and we want to increase our footprint all over the country,” he said. “The strategy of having plants in different parts of the country has paid off very well because it helps us to take our products to the dealers and customers faster.”
Innovations Kajaria said that having a great network of more than 1,000 dealers was one of the key factors behind the rapid growth of the company and the high visibility of the brand. “We give high priority to our dealers and we offer the best incentives to them,” he said. Another major factor was innovation.
“We have launched several trendy designs and styles in tune with the changing tastes,” he said. “We have also introduced varying sizes of tiles to suit a variety of needs and themes.” Because of these innovations, imports from Italy and Turkey had fallen. The ‘Make In India’ project would be of advantage to his company.
Though there is a lull in the construction sector, Kajaria was confident that his company would achieve a ‘10 to 15 per cent’ increase in turnover in 2015-16. In another five years, the Kajaria brand would secure a large chunk of the market.
He said South India was highly promising for the company and that among all the States, Kerala was the number one consumer of Kajaria tiles, followed by Maharashtra and UP.