Global economic meltdown has now hit the growth of niche market of Indian golf equipments industry which is still in its infancy here.
Feeling the heat demand recession for golf equipments, the managing director of Zaverchand Sports Equipment Pvt Limited, largest distributor for golf cars and equipments, Anand Gandhi admitted that the company?s growth rate has come down from 25% to 15%.
Talking to FE, Anand Gandhi who is in Chandigarh in connection with expansion of his business said, ?Golf is still played by the elite class in India. Though there is no relevant data on market-size of equipment industry but the rough estimates says the total value stands at Rs 25 crore. With the entry of various golf clubs, hotel and resorts, various real estate projects in the country, the demand for golf cars and equipments has certainly gone up in the past few years. But the economic meltdown has impacted the industry. For instance ICICI Bank has cancelled its plans to organise annual golf tournament and real estate giant Emaar-MGF which used to sponsor European golf-tournaments has withdrawn its support this time. These kind of incidents has affected our business?.
Zaverchand is distributor of largest golf company in the world Acushnet Inc, USA and the leading manufacturer of golf cars in the world, Club Car Inc, USA. ?Currently we have nearly 600 club cars being used all over in India. We have tie up with all major resorts, golf federations, golf clubs, real estate companies, film studios and with religious institutes. We are planning to expand our service setups in the various parts of the country. The turnover of the company is Rs 7 crore and due to the slowdown we are expecting touch revenues of Rs 8.5 crore this financial year, Anand Gandhi said.