Amway's own manufacturing unit coming up in Tamil Nadu

Consumer and home products direct marketing company Amway India, which expects to do business worth Rs.50 billion in the country by 2020, is setting up its own manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, a company official said here Tuesday.

"The Amway greenfield manufacturing facility is being set up at Nilakottai (Dindigul district) near Madurai in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs.5 billion and it would start production by this year-end or early next year," company vice-president (East) Diptarag Bhattacharjee told reporters.

He said the plant will create 475 jobs besides indirect employment. It will cater to the US market by 2022.

Bhattacharjee said: "After commencing commercial operations and business with Rs.9.1 million in 1998, Amway has done business worth Rs.21.69 billion last year (2013) in India."

"We now hope to take this turnover much more this year," he said.

Amway India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Amway Corp, has invested about Rs.1.51 billion ($35 million) in India, of which Rs.220 million have come as foreign direct investment.

Bhattacharjee said almost all the 140 Amway products in five categories are manufactured in India so far through seven third-party contract manufacturers with production facilities and skills conforming to international standards.

The five categories of Amway products include personal care, home care, nutrition and wellness, cosmetics and Great Value products.

He said Amway tripled its production capacities at its leading vendor facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh last year. It has invested Rs.200 million ($4 million) in the transfer of world-class technology to the contract manufacturers.

Amway corporation is the world's largest direct selling FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company with global turnover of $11.8 billion.

According to Bhattacharjee, the largest number of Amway product users in India is in the eastern, northern and northeast region. The company is doing its business in over 4,000 cities and towns in India.