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Our Bureau

Chennai May 7 Industrial and automotive battery major, Amara Raja Batteries (ARBL) has launched a new retail concept — Powerzone — for the rural market.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr Indeevar G, Head-Automotive Aftermarket, said the idea is to cater to the growing need for better technology, at affordable price, in the rural market. The company inaugurated the first franchisee Powerzone store at Chengalpattu, near Chennai.

Through the Powerzone retail chain, ARBL will sell a special economy range of `Powerzone' automotive batteries, invertors, batteries for home UPS and so on.

According Mr Indeever, the initiative is to take on the unorganised sector in the rural market. The new Powerzone range of batteries is designed to offer `value for money' in the low-end segment, through which it hopes to garner an additional 15 per cent share of the market in three years.

Commenting on the new concept, Mr Jaydev Galla, Managing Director of the company, said, "While our Amaron PitStops are consumer experience stores, Powerzone is a destination brand." Amaron wants to be the market leader in the stored energy solutions segment. "And, Powerzone is a step in that direction," Mr Galla said.

Going forward, the outlets will also sell other "electrical appliances" sourced from other manufacturers under the brand Powerzone.

ARBL plans to open at least 50 Powerzone stores by the end of this month and aims at 500 stores across the country by the end of the year. "Our target is to have at least one outlet in every taluk in India in the next two years," Mr Galla said.

The company is also set to launch two-wheeler batteries before the end of the year.

It is all set to complete the proposed Rs 88-crore capacity expansion project to produce 5.5 million batteries by June 2008. The company's facility near Tirupathi currently produces 3.6 million batteries. The funds for the expansion are to be met through debt. According to Mr K. Suresh, Financial Controller, the company has already tied up funds. "The funding will be through Rs 40 crore, 5-year rupee term loan from Citibank, and the remaining through external commercial borrowings from BNP Paribas," he said.

More Stories on : Rural Marketing | Automobile Components

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