As part of this strategy, Samsonite plans to introduce travel accessories such as travel pillow, body bags, travel case, vanity case, jewellery organiser, leather wallets, among others in December 2000.

The company has also introduced the Sammies range of colourful Travelware in animal shapes targeted at two-eight years olds.

In September 2000, Trunk & Co (Jaipur) was floated by Samsonite for marketing causal bags. According to Samsonite India president Mr EP Suresh Menon: "The line which includes hip bags, backpacks and duffel bags is targeted at the youngsters. The casual bag market is about Rs 120 crore and growing at 60 per cent per annum. Samsonite intends to acquire a dominating marketshare in this segment. To achieve this objective, we plan to market 8,000 casual bags per annum during this calendar year. We will also introduce new lines in the near future."

Thus, the Samsonite range will be fully introduced in the Indian market by December 2000. The price of the entire TravelWare - which includes all the brands of hard and soft luggage and accessories - is in the range of Rs 850 to Rs 7,000.

According to Mr Menon: "Samsonite has generated revenues of Rs 60 crore in the calendar year January to December 2000. The company expects the revenues to grow by Rs 30 crore between January and December 2001."

Meanwhile, in a bid to expand its luggage and non-luggage portfolios, Samsonite India is embarking on a major distribution strategy. It is expanding the number of Samsonite showrooms across major cities in India- from 20 in the current year to 50 during this calendar year. The company also plans to open 35 Travel Worlds in December 2000. Currently, there are seven Travel Worlds operating across major cities in India.

The company has 900 dealers across major cities and plans to expand the dealership in the next few months. Numbers were, however, not divulged.

Samsonite India is introducing an additional 1.8 lakh units of a new range in soft luggage in new design and colour with an investment of Rs 12 crore.

The price of this ranges from Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,000."The company's aim to export the range of new products is basically driven by the fact that in the domestic market 85 per cent of the luggage sold is still hard luggage whereas there is scope for the soft luggage to grow from 25 per cent in the current calendar year to 30 per cent by December-end 2001," said Mr Menon.

Of the Rs 1,200-crore total size of bagagges in the Indian market, Rs 600 crore is generated through the organised sector and the balance Rs 600 crore through the unorganised sector.

Samsonite India has earmarked an expenditure of Rs 2 crore for advertising. The campaigns are expected to be released this year.