Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Apr 10, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Apr 10, 2005 |
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Corporate
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Outlook Marketing - Strategy Ahill to widen garment range, enter Lanka
R.Y. Narayanan
Coimbatore , April 9 TIRUPUR-BASED Ahill group, which is basically involved in apparel exports, is making a serious foray into domestic market. The company, which is manufacturing `T'-shirts and sportswear under the brand name `BodyGlove,' is widening product range by including inner garments for sale in the domestic market from June this year. It is establishing a textile mill for the manufacturing cotton yarn at an investment of Rs 20 crore to meet in-house requirements. Speaking to Business Line, Mr N.K. Karthikeyan, Director, Ahill group, said he expected the export turnover of about Rs 50 crore to go up by 50 per cent during the current fiscal. The domestic sales might be about Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore. The marketing would be through multi-branded stores. It was planning to launch its inner-garment range in June this year. The company's products were largely available in the South, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and they have entered Rajasthan market. In the next three to six months it would make a vigorous push in the Northern and Eastern markets. Asked about the reason for focusing on the domestic market when the export earnings were quite robust, Mr Karthikeyan said his company has an integrated manufacturing facility — knitting to garmenting including own processing facility — and hence did not want to depend on buyers only. The industry margins were coming down and it wanted to have its own brand for which domestic sale would be of enormous help. He clarified that the focus on domestic sale was not at the expense of exports. It would continue to aim at increasing export volume even while trying to reach out to the domestic market. He said while the company would manufacture knits itself, other products like woven garments would be outsourced. Once the volume picked up, the company might look at producing woven garments itself by putting up additional units. It also would enter the manufacture of furnishings, bedspreads and other made-up items. Mr Karthikeyan said he aimed at capturing the economical and value-for-money segment even while supplying premium quality products. He said he was negotiating with a Sri Lankan company for distribution of `BodyGlove' range of `T-shirts' and sportswear in Sri Lanka on a reciprocal basis. The expected volume was around 10,000 pieces a month in the first three months. Under this arrangement, his company would market in India the Sri Lankan company's textile products. His group would establish a 12,000-spindle textile spinning mill close to Tirupur next year to meet the in-house cotton yarn requirement at a cost of Rs 20 crore. For the industry to remain competitive, it should have integrated manufacturing facility from spinning to cutting and finishing.
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