The Hindu Business Line : `Nitraa' furniture finds demand from star hotels

THANKS to "aggressive" brand promotion and good demand from the upcoming star hotels, Sivasakthi Wood Works expects its turnover to double to Rs 40 crore in 2005-06.

The company produces ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture made of medium density fibreboard and marketed under the `Nitraa' brand name.

The Chennai-based company has just begun operations from its Rs 7-crore, 500-units-per-day, greenfield facility at Maraimalai Nagar.

Recently, the company bagged a Rs 20-lakh order from Royal Plaza, a 3-star hotel that is coming up at Koyambedu.

Until the new plant came up, Sivasakthi was producing wood-made interior decoration products from its unit in the Guindy industrial estate.

The growing demand for RTA furniture spurred the company into that business.

The company decided for go in for a sophisticated plant with software embedded machinery in order to handle large volumes.

"We can produce the entire demand from Royal Plaza in just a day," says Mr R. Arumugam, one of the promoters of Sivasakthi Wood Works.

According to Mr Arumugam, there have been encouraging enquiries from an American and a Canadian firm.

There will be more export business, once Sivasakthi participates in overseas exhibitions, showcasing its new plant. Mr Arumugam said that the closest competitors in this business are the Malaysians, but "we are at least 8 per cent cheaper than them."

Besides, the Nitraa furniture are free of urea formaldehyde, a chemical adhesive banned in the EU.

While the company would keep an eye on the export markets, "our focus is to promote the Nitraa brand in India," Mr Arumugam said. He expects to promote Nitraa as a national brand through focused advertisements and participation in fairs. Sivasakthi expects to spend about Rs 50 lakh this year.

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