"We will form a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Grohe within the next 18 months and start production in the year 2002," HSIL's joint managing director Sandip Somany told The Financial Express.

According to Mr Somany, a team representing both the companies was currently in the process of working out modalities and a final blueprint is expected to be ready in four to six months.

HSIL currently has a marketing alliance with Grohe AG to market its `Vitec' range of shower products in the country.

The two are expected to announce an alliance in the next fiscal. While the location of the proposed plant has not been finalised yet, according to Mr Somany, it is likely to be in either Haryana or Rajasthan. While refusing to divulge the details regarding the size of the equity that would be shared between HSIL and Grohe, Mr Somany said that Grohe is expected to buy back 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the total output of the unit to market in South East and Middle East countries. The rest would be marketed by the Indian counterpart in India as well as Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal. The location and the size of the investment were yet to be worked out, he said.

"Capital cost is not frozen as yet since that would depend on the level of automation we would opt for," Mr Somany added. The total capital investment in such a project could vary from Rs 20 crore to Rs 80 crore. Meanwhile, HSIL is also exploring another JV with $8 billion US multinational, Masco Inc to manufacture its bathroom storage solutions in the country. "We are exploring the tie-up. It will either be a technical collaboration or a JV," he said.

The company already has a marketing agreement with Masco Inc to introduce its `Zenith' range of space saver storage items in India. Masco is the largest manufacturer of space savers in the world.

The new initiatives, Mr Somany said, were aimed at becoming a complete bathroom solution provider from being just a manufacturer of Vitreous China Sanitaryware. The size of the total chrome plated faucets and regulatory vaults in the country is estimated to be around Rs 900 crore. HSIL, with its proposed JV, hopes to get 10 per cent to 15 per cent share of the market in three years period. HSIL's sanitary division has three plants located in Bahdurgarh (near Delhi), Bibinagar (AP) and Isnapur (AP).