Roca pitches for Make in India 2.0

CHENNAI: India is on course to become the second largest market for Roca after Spain, as the Barcelona-based sanitaryware brand continues to see growth momentum in the sub-continent, said a top official.

Roca India MD KE Ranganathan, in an interaction with DTNext, sounds upbeat as he goes to state that the China plus strategy under the current global circumstances could prove favourable for India. “In six to nine months’ time, India, set to overtake Brazil, could well emerge as a key location for manufacturing Roca products as the country is becoming the centre of gravity. Whether it will be Chennai or Delhi is a choice that needs to be taken,” he said, highlighting the geographical advantages of India.

To reinforce this point, he said a noticeable trend is many companies, including Roca, are scaling up operations in Eastern Europe locations like Turkey due to cost arbitrage and labour availability. To ward off the challenges of relying solely on Russia for gas supplies given the ongoing war with Ukraine, Roca has decided on Algeria despite disparity in pricing to prevent the marginal 2-3 per cent dip in sales.

Spain, Ranganathan, sought to point out, is a tourism-driven economy and considered a safe haven for those operating from other European locations. Typically, from September onwards, household expenses go up along with discretionary spends and the GDP of the second largest country in the European Union fold, has not been impacted unlike others.

Some of the aggressive measures undertaken by the global sanitaryware major includes shunting people during the pandemic and conducting induction sessions digitally. Such an approach has aided Roca to come out of Covid-19 pains within four months, recording an all-time revenue high and turning more profitable.

The Indian subsidiary from its current Rs 2,000 cr revenue mark, is confident of posting a 20 per cent growth as post COVID-19, its sales figures have been north-bound. Besides sanitaryware, Roca Parryware has plastics, faucets and pipes as its key businesses. While brand Parryware is dominant with a 60 pc share of the revenue, Roca is at 25 per cent and the rest coming from Johnson Pedar and other brands.

Next year, by April, Roca would have added two more display studios at Indore and Kolkata taking the total to 10. “Guwahati and Gujarat are also places we would like to boost our presence,” Ranganathan said, adding typically each studio spend works out to Rs 4 crore.

TN continues to be its mainstay followed by Bihar, other southern and eastern states besides Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “Our focus will be on Delhi and Mumbai though we have seen good traction in Pune,” he said.

Ranganathan also said plans are afoot to add capacity as it had reached 85 pc utilisation in sanitaryware business and 83 pc and 85 pc in faucets and plastics respectively. “Towards January-end, our pipe factory at Alwar in Rajasthan, with Rs 40 cr investment, will be ready. We are planning expansion in south as we continue to scout for acquisitions in plastics and faucets business,” he signed off.