The Hindu Business Line : Hindware hopes to show bathrooms in a new light

Chennai, Jan. 12 Hindustan Sanitaryware and Industries Ltd (HSIL) is restructuring its portfolio to appeal to the middle and upper middle classes. It has also aimed to get consumers to look at bathrooms as places in which to rejuvenate themselves, through its new ad campaign, which has the tag line ‘Get Charged’.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Sandip Somany, Joint Managing Director, HSIL, says the company has expanded its design team and launched over 170 products in the last year alone, more than the combined average of the last three years.

HSIL’s range of products now includes premium ones such as the Intellimate, a Rs 1.2-lakh toilet which comes with a seat that can be warmed, a deodoriser, a facility to control the water temperature, bidet functions, remote control and an LED light that can double as a night light. The company claims to have broken the price barrier of similar products coming in. It also sells shower enclosures, bathtubs, whirlpools, taps, showers and mixers, among others. Mr Somany claimed that much of the foreign competition had a narrower range and a narrower market in sight — just urban — unlike itself that also took into account customers from smaller towns and affordability from their perspective.

To that end, it has launched various products at different price points, he said. The company’s R&D team is also working on indigenising various products to cut costs. According to him, HSIL is the only Indian company to offer a product like Intellimate, and it is doing well, he claimed.

Green concerns

From the environmental perspective, the company is talking to the Government to change the norms on the quantity of water needed to flush the toilet. According to Mr Somany, it shouldn’t be more than 6 litres as technology has improved and toilets can be flushed efficiently with lesser and lesser water.

Initially, the norms were such that 15 litres were needed per flush, then 12.5 litres and then 10, he said. HSIL, he claimed, makes products (men’s urinals) that use as little as 150-200 ml water to flush. If those norms are put in place, 28,000 litres of water can be saved per toilet per year, he added. HSIL’s profit after tax for the previous financial year was Rs 27 crore on a turnover of Rs 600 crore. Mr Somany did not say how much the company would make this year, but was optimistic of better results despite the economic slowdown.

Though builders have deferred their purchases of sanitaryware, individual consumer spending and the retail sector hold out hope, he said. The company’s new ad campaign aims to have consumers see the bathroom in a new light, as a haven. Research carried out in the US and Europe shows people spend as much as 50 minutes in their bathrooms, Mr Somany said. In India, they spend as much as 30 minutes.

Bathrooms have also come to occupy much mindspace and share of wallet over the years and the company seeks to capitalise on this to grow its business. HSIL has a 40 per cent share of the Rs 1,100-crore market for sanitaryware, like competitor Parryware Roca whose market share also hovers at a similar level, he said.

More Stories on : Strategy | Interiors & Homes | Ceramics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
IRCTC plans budget tours from Chennai, Mumbai

Hindware hopes to show bathrooms in a new light

Auto sales skid further in December

GSM operators add 8.1 m users

Domino’s Pizza store in Kochi

Dabur launches new store in Delhi

Bajaj redrafts bike strategy, to launch XCD 135 on Jan 21

Airtel services now in Sri Lanka

Airtel launches lifetime prepaid at Rs 99