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— H. Satish

Mr George Menezes, Chief Operating Officer of Godrej Appliances (file photo).

Bindu D. Menon

New Delhi, Sept. 8 Godrej Appliances, a part of Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd, will be making an investment of approximately Rs 200 crore to hike its capacity, beef up marketing as well as investments in moulds for various product lines.

The company, which posted a turnover of Rs 1,350 crore for the last fiscal, said its looking at a turnover of Rs 1,700 crore for the current fiscal and even as it is setting up a third-party manufacturing facility for LCD televisions in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh.

“Demand is picking up and we had a good summer. At least, 60 per cent of the sales have been contributed due to the urban demand,” said Mr George Menezes, Chief Operating Officer, Godrej Appliances.

He said while most categories were growing at about 6-8 per cent, the company is growing by about 18-20 per cent.

“We have ramped up capacity of almost all our facilities last year. Our LCD TVs range is also being piloted in Andhra Pradesh. It will be extended for the national market soon,” he said.

Mr Menezes said that the new Rs 120-crore facility for LCDs will initially have a capacity of four lakh units.

The capacity of its washing machines plant is also being enhanced to 10 lakh from 6.5 lakh and refrigerators to 1.2 million from 0.8 million. Air-conditioner manufacturing will also have an investment tab of Rs 50 crore for the current year and the capacity will be enhanced to two lakh units. This apart, mould investments will incur an additional investment of Rs 35 crore.

Asked if the company is entering newer product categories, Mr Menezes said Godrej Appliances had launched its range of water purifiers.

He said the company is expanding its sales channels. “Besides increasing our dealerships, we are also working to improve our supply chain in modern formats,” he said, adding its door-to-door sales channel is also gaining favour among customers.

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