Chennai-based Parryware Roca Private Ltd – a 50:50 JV between Barcelona-headquartered Roca Sanitario and EID Parry of Murugappa Group – is planning to start manufacturing premium ?Roca? branded sanitaryware and bathroom fittings and ?Parryware? premium products at Parryware?s two manufacturing facilities based in Coimbatore, in the first quarter of 2008. Currently, ?Roca? branded products are being sourced from Spain, while Parryware premium products are being sourced from Germany, Thailand and China. K Ranganathan, MD, Parryware Roca Private Ltd told FE, ?The aim is to provide co-ordinated bathroom sets solutions to aspirational high-end consumers. Once we start manufacturing the two branded products in Coimbatore next year, we will exit imports of these products in the next five years.? EID Parryware currently has a market share of 46% in the sub-premium sanitaryware segment.
?We hope to increase our market share in the premium category from 5% to 20%,? he added. For the purpose, Parryware Roca Private Ltd is planning to set up 30 designer stores to include sanitwaryware and bathroom fittings of ?Roca? in the form of shop-in-shop concepts within Parryware outlets apart from exclusive Roca branded outlets within a year in India to include cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ludhiana, Chennai, Guwahati, among others. ?So far, we have set up 20 Roca stores,? Ranganathan added.
