Germany's Kaldewei opens shop in India

German sanitary brand, Kaldewei, which makes steel enamel bath tubs and showertrays, is eying a turnover of 1.5 million euros (around Rs 10.2 crore) from India during the 2012 fiscal ( company follows a January-December fiscal). The company, which has been supplying bath tubs to hotels made its foray into retail segment with the opening of its first showroom in the country in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

The privately held family owned business of Franz Kaldewei GmbH & Co. had started way back in 1918 with just five employees.

"Kaldewei replaced the old cast iron bath tubs in European households with its steel enamel tubs, and became Europe's number one brand in bath tubs. Ours is the only company to give a 30 year warranty on our tubs" said Nicole Roesler, global marketing director, Kaldewei. She added that the company makes its tubs from metal that is crafted using a proprietary formula which only Kaldewei has access to. "We use 3.5 mm steel enamel, which is thicker than the grade of steel used in cars", claimed Roesler.

 

The company had started supplying to leading hotels in the country starting with the Hyatt Mumbai around seven years back and has supplied around 4,000-5,000 tubs so far, informed Mukund Patel, sales director, South Asia region of Kaldewei South Asia Pte Ltd. "In one year's time we are expecting retail sales to contribute to around 40 per cent of our overall sales in the country, while rest will come from institutional sales", Patel said.

Globally, nearly 70 per cent of Kaldewei's sales come from exports to 66 countries. "As a part of our strategy, the exports share will rise to 80 per cent in the coming years. Asia including India holds great potential for our range of products", Roesler said. She did not wish to share the company's global turnover.