Cera Sanitaryware Ltd, one of the leading players in Indian sanitaryware market, plans to further increase the production capacity of its sanitaryware products to 3 million pieces per annum at its plant located in Kadi near Ahmedabad.

The company currently has a production capacity of 2 million pieces per annum, which is already being expanded to 2.7 million pieces. The ongoing expansion is likely to be commercially commissioned by January 2013.

“We are planning to further enhance the capacity to 3 million pieces per annum,” said Vikram Somany, chairman and managing director, Cera Sanitaryware. The company expects to add this capacity over the period of next one and a half year.

Already an established player in sanitaryware industry, the company has also forayed into manufacturing of tiles. “Cera has launched an array of elegant range of HD digital wall and vitrified tiles with matching floor tiles. The company is also offering the normal vitrified tiles with nano technology,” he added. The company is eying a revenue of Rs 20 crore from tile business this fiscal.

Cera, however, will not manufacture tiles. It will outsource tiles from indigenous tile makers. The company currently enjoys 75 per cent share in Gujarat’s sanitaryware market. Despite the market vagaries, the company has registered a 44 per cent rise in its profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 11.03 crore for the second quarter ended 30 September, 2012.

It had clocked PAT of Rs 7.65 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. The topline of the company has also grown by 52 per cent at Rs 111.38 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal, which stood at Rs . 73.28 crore.

With the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 per cent over the past five years, the company is now targeting a turnover of Rs 500 crore for the fiscal 2012-13. The company has achieved a net sales income of Rs 201.89 crore in the first half of current financial year.

(As published in Business Standard 10th October 2012)