Rupani lays foundation of Varmora tile factories; firm to invest Rs 300 cr

Tiles and bathware maker Varmora Group on Tuesday announced to invest around Rs 300 crore for setting up two plants in Gujarat, which are expected to be operational by April 2021.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani took part in a virtual stone laying ceremony the two upcoming tile manufacturing plants in the state on Tuesday.

The two manufacturing units are coming up near Morbi town of the Saurashtra region where the company already operates 11 plants, Varmora Group Chairman Bhavesh Varmora said after the virtual stone-laying ceremony.

In his address, Rupani congratulated the ceramic industry of Morbi for "going ahead of China and capturing the ceramic market of the world", according to a state government release.

"I congratulate Varmora Group for these two new plants," he added.

Ceramic products worth Rs 14,000 crore are exported to various countries every year from Morbi.

The firm's product portfolio includes -ceramic floor, digital wall, parking, porcelain, digital glazed vitrified, double charge, outdoor and slabs.

"We are now focussing on strengthening the infrastructure so that people come to Morbi instead of China to buy ceramic products," said Rupani.

Morbi is the hub of the ceramic industry in India with over 900 units contributing nearly 92 per cent of the entire country's tile production, which comes to around 6.5 per cent of the entire world's production, Varmora told reporters after the ceremony.

The group would invest Rs 300 crore on both the plants having the capacity to produce 35,000 square metres of tiles per day.

This will add to the current capacity of 1.10 lakh square metres tiles produced in the 11 existing units every day, said Varmora.

He added that both the plants will become operational by April next year and will generate 1,200 direct and indirect employment opportunities.

The company exports its tile and bathware products to over 70 countries and aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 1,600 crore in the next 2-3 years, a jump of Rs 500 crore.

Varmora said "Anti-China" sentiment is catching up across the world and it would help Indian ceramic industry to a great extent.

He added that since people are moving away from Chinese products world over, demand for Morbi's tiles is increasing. Currently, Morbi manufactures 6.5 per cent of all the tiles made across the world.

"We are expecting double-digit growth in the sales in the current financial year with robust demand from the export market especially North and South America, Europe, Africa and Middle East Countries," he added.

He added that the proposed expansion will help us to meet the growing demand from the export market as well as serve the domestic markets better.

"Due to this anti-China sentiment, we predict that Morbi's share from present 6.5 per cent to 10 per cent by 2025," said Varmora.

He also said the company, having its office in China also, is planning to start its manufacturing plant in Kenya by July next year.

"In the next 2-3 years, the company has set a target of Rs. 1,600 crore revenue, expand the export network to 100 plus countries from 70 currently and increase exclusive showrooms to over 320," said Varmora.