Mr Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Dollar Industries Ltd talking to media in Kolkata on Thursday. — Photo: A. Roy Chowdhury
Kolkata-based Rs 450-crore innerwear maker Dollar Industries Ltd plans to focus on the upper-end of products marketed under the brand Big Boss.
This will help boost the company's margins and improve its profitability, said Mr Vinod Gupta, Managing Director.
Products sold under that brand currently account for about 24 per cent of the company's turnover. “We want to scale it up to 50 per cent in the next two years. The segment is likely to grow to 35 per cent of the company's turnover this fiscal,” Mr Gupta said.
Having Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador for Big Boss has turned in favour for the company, he said, and added, “In 2008-09 and 2009-10, Big Boss accounted for just about 3-5 per cent of our total sales. We roped in Akshay Kumar in 2010-11 and thereafter there has been a marked improvement in sales.”
The company has therefore renewed its agreement with Akshay Kumar (which was set to expire this year) and has extended it till 2013-14.
Dollar spent close to Rs 32 crore on marketing and advertising in 2011-12. “We have earmarked Rs 35 crore for 2012-13,” he added.
Other brands
While men's innerwear is available under the brands Dollar Club, Comfort, Force, Lehar and Big Boss, women's wear is marketed under the brands Missy and Lady Di.
Women's wear contributes to about 8-9 per cent of the company's turnover at present.
Products sold under the Big Boss brand currently sell at about Rs 65-70 a piece, while the same sold under Dollar and other brands range anywhere between Rs 35 and Rs 40.
Production
The company has a total of four factories in Kolkata, Tirupur, Delhi and Ludhiana and has a production capacity of 3.5 lakh pieces a day. “There is adequate possibility for expanding production in our existing factories,” he said.
The company exports its products to countries such as Iran, Iraq, Dubai, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordon. Exports account for about 11 per cent of its sales at present. “Exports have been growing at 15- 20 per cent on a year-on-year basis,” he said.
Published on April 5, 2012
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.