Demand from renovation segment clocking fast growth: NITCO

Demand from real estate sector is on a slow lane

NITCO (Northern India Tiles Corporation) Limited, which today launched its 'spring summer collection' of wall,floor and other varieties of tiles, feels that while demand from the real estate sector is on a slow lane, demand from the renovation segment is growing at a fast pace.

Subrata Basu, vice president,marketing, NITCO said that demand from the renovation segment is clocking a 30 per cent growth rate.

"It is growing at a faster rate than demand from the real estate segment," he said adding that while the real estate segment is clocking a slow growth rate, however, it is not in a negative territory.

Overall, tiles industry is growing at a 20-23 per cent growth rate, and according to Basu, NITCO has managed to clock around 20-25 per cent growth rate last year. It has three manufacturing plants, a floor tile manufacturing plant at Alibaug near Mumbai with a capacity of around 5 lakh square meter per month, a wall tile manufacturing unit at Morbi in Gujarat with a capacity of 3 lakh sq meters per month and a marble processing unit at Silvassa.

Nearly 15 to 20 per cent of the production at the Alibaug unit is exported, while less than 10 per cent of the Morbi production is exported. The company, however, focussing more on the domestic market, as growth lies here.

In the last three years, it has tapered down its Chinese operations, which were making 'value-for-money' tiles for the Indian market. "Earlier, nearly 50-60 per cent of our 'value-for-money' or economic range of tiles were coming from China, however, that has reduced to around 10 per cent now," Basu said.

NITCO posted revenues of Rs 759 crore in FY14, with losses of around Rs 211 crore.

Basu did not wish to comment on the expected turnover this fiscal.