Everest's rural push lifts roofing product sales

Everest Industries Ltd (EIL), a manufacturer of building solutions products, expects the three new factories commissioned during the past few quarters to contribute Rs 300 crore to Rs 350 crore to its turnover in the current fiscal.

The company feels its strategy of penetrating deeper into the rural markets and expanding its dealership network is paying off with the first quarter turnover jumping nearly 30 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of the launch of colour-coated metal roofing sheets in Coimbatore on Monday, Rahul Chopra, Senior VP & Head-Roofing Business, EIL, New Delhi, said the company had commissioned the roofing plant at Baleshwar in Odisha late last year. The new plant at Dahej in Gujarat for the manufacture of pre-engineered building (PEB) solutions has begun production. A metal roofing plant had come up in Ranchi in Jharkhand. He expected these plants to contribute Rs 300 crore-Rs 350 crore to it turnover in the current financial year.

He attributed the company's Rs 84-crore jump in turnover to Rs 380.83 crore in Q1 of 2014-15 as compared to Rs 296.81 crore in the same previous period to a “deeper rural penetration” to push sales. The company began identifying clusters with higher population so that it could appoint distributors to service them. This led to a 20-25 per cent growth in its dealership. The company also worked on improving awareness about EIL products among potential customers. It has also provided training to around 7,500 roofing installers in the last one year.

Chopra said since February 2014 the roofing industry had “consistently seen” an uptick in demand and EIL had posted its highest ever sales month-after-month in so far as roofing products were concerned, including boards and panels. EIL, which witnessed a sluggish performance in the first three months of the last fiscal, witnessed a turnaround in the demand scenario in the January-March quarter of 2013-14 and the trend has been continuing. If the positive momentum is any indication, even the current month’s sales would be a record for EIL, though August is a traditionally “sluggish” month for the roofing business, he said.

He said demand was being driven by a “robust rural economy”, an increase in warehousing demand and a higher disposable income with the rural population, aided by the company’s strategy to focus on and expand the rural reach. EIL has also introduced new products such as roofing reinforced with synthetic fibre and polycarbonate roofing. It has launched ‘Everest Durasteel’, colour-coated metal roofing sheets that offered higher durability and were `leak proof’. It has already been launched in other regions and was launched in Coimbatore on Aug 25.

He said the fibre cement roofing market in India was about 40 million tonnes in size and his company has about 14-15 per cent market share in this segment. The pre-coated metal roofing market had both organised and unorganised players. EIL was among a few companies to launch branded products in the pre-coated metal roofing segment having an estimated market size of 300,000 tonnes a year. This product, being relatively new, was clocking 20-25 per cent demand growth annually, while the AC roofing industry was growing by 8-10 per cent a year.

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