Solac-Whiteline To Set Up Central Mfg Unit At Gurgaon

Solac-Whiteline, a joint venture between Maharaja Appliances and Solac of Spain, is setting up a centralised manufacturing centre in Gurgaon.

Maharaja, which holds a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture, now has four small manufacturing centres in the country. Solac holds the remaining 40 per cent.

The centralised manufacturing base is part of the Spanish companys plans to make India a manufacturing base for export to the neighbouring countries and the Gulf nations.

It is in the process of identifying a few products, one of them being dry iron, which it will manufacture only in India.

Solacs investments in India, which have not been very significant so far, will grow manifold with the setting of the manufacturing base in Gurgaon, Ashutosh Sharma, the Spanish companys resident manager in India, said yesterday.

The joint venture between Maharaja and Solac was signed last year and the products mainly small domestic appliances like irons, mixers, coffee makers, juicer mixer grinders, hand blenders, sandwich makers and wax-based hair removers were introduced in the market in May-June this year. The response has been good. But we have yet to see how fast the products have moved from the counters, said Sharma.

The company plans to introduce new products in its range every four months, the next in line being electric toothbrushes and toasters which are expected to be on the shelves by January-February next year. Its products are priced high in comparison to the organised sector, which manufactures most of the small appliances, but fall in the same range as other established brands. Solac, which notched up turnover worth $500 million last year, now has manufacturing bases in Spain, Portugal, Russia and China and boasts of deep penetration in the South American and European markets.