Rupa Plans To Launch A New Brand, Euro

"We are expecting to increase our turnover during the current fiscal to over Rs 150 crore from last year's Rs 126 crore," said P R Agarwal, chairman of the company. Central to the company's growth strategy will be the launch of 'Euro'.

"We are expecting to launch the brand by November 2000 which will be promoted along with some of our other leading brands like Rupa Frontline and Macroman," said K B Agarwala, managing director. Plans are also on to launch a new online buying and selling portal in the next few months.

The company is in the process of implementing a Rs 14 crore dyeing and bleaching unit near Calcutta and will expand its dealer network further from 550 during the current year, especially in southern India.

 

Rupa had earlier signed in Aishwarya Rai, Lisa Ray and Saif Ali Khan for its product endorsements and had recently signed up Govinda for its immensely successful brand promotion for the Rupa Frontline range. "We are still considering the possibility of signing on a new face for promoting the forthcoming Euro brand," P R Agarwal said.

"We have a strong presence in all the regions excepting the southern region. This year our marketing thrust will be aimed at expanding our presence in the south," K B Agarwala said.

Rupa has also diversified into the outerwear segment for men, women and children and also has a winterwear range. However, currently, nearly 90 per cent of the company's revenues come from its traditional productline, undergarments, while the rest come from newer outerwear segment, which includes T-shirts, bermudas and childwear.

The company's subsidiary, Rupa Global (Pvt) Ltd, now a 100 per cent export division, has made foray into the markets of Middle East, Africa, South Africa, South East Asia, Europe and Australia.

Rupa at present has a market share of around 12 per cent and expects its new brand and existing premium brands like Frontline and Macroman will increase its share to around 15 per cent during the fiscal.

Rupa has around a dozen brands of which Bumchums and Kaiser and Thermocot are in the outerwear segment.

The company is currently listed in Jaipur and Calcutta stock exhanges and has three major manufacturing units in Calcutta, Tirupur, Delhi and a dyeing unit in Surat.