Maharaja plans new plant

Sanjay Sardana

New Delhi, July 15: The Rs 73-crore Maharaja Appliances, India’s largest small domestic appliances company, is setting up the country’s largest small appliances plant in Gurgaon.

The plant will commence commercial production of mixers, grinders, irons and other appliances in August this year.

In a bid to increase its share in the Rs 1200-crore small appliances segment, the company is also launching a host of new products in the kitchen appliances, personal care and small domestic appliances segments.

During the next few months, the company will launch grills, barbecues, travel irons, emergency lights and rice cookers. It is also enlarging its current range of oven toaster grills (OTGs), juice and citrus extractors, snack makers and wet grinders.

“We have emerged as the clear leader in the kitchen appliances category and are consciously working towards leadership in the entire small appliances market,” Vivek Sharma, Group Vice-President (Sales and Marketing) of Maharaja Whiteline told The Financial Express.

Maharaja’s market share in the kitchen appliances segment is around 13 per cent, followed by Sumeet’s 11 per cent. “The new range will help us enhance our market share. We will support our products through visibility in major metros where we will spearhead a brand building exercise through an extensive multimedia campaign,” he added.

The company has set a target of spending Rs 5 crore this year on sales and promotional activities, up from Rs 2.2 crore spent last year on a turnover of Rs 72.5 crore.

“The new plant, set up with an investment of around Rs 6-7 crore, is a backward integration project and will help us consolidate our scattered production activities. All our activities will come under one roof,” Mr Sharma added.

“We have been dividing the market into three basic segments, each of which would be effectively and specifically catered to by a particular line of products from Maharaja Whiteline. The topline, primeline, bonusline range of products have been launched to cater to the wants of the top, middle and low end of the market. “We are targetting a turnover of Rs 105 crore this year with a net profit of around Rs 8 crore. The rise in revenue will be driven by our efforts of enhancing our product range as well as our efforts to aggressively push institutional sales,” he said.

During the year ended March 2001, the company clocked sales of Rs 72.5 crore and became the largest player in the small appliances segment ahead of Bajaj (Rs 68 crore), Philips (Rs 66 crore) and Sumeet (Rs 62 crore).