For the global home appliances company Versuni, the India business has emerged as a key growth engine, witnessing a double-digit growth rate. Versuni India, which owns the Philips domestic appliances business and Preethi Kitchen appliances, has also been ramping up manufacturing capacity in the country to enable it to develop products that cater to Indian households’ needs.
India emerges as a key growth engine
Gulbahar Taurani, MD & CEO, Versuni India Home Solutions Ltd, told businessline, “ India is a strategic market and considered as growth engine for the global Versuni business. We have been witnessing double-digit growth in the past two years and this year too we will be growing in double-digits.”
He added that categories such as air-fryers, garment steamers, coffee machines and air purifiers are outpacing the growth of mature categories such as mixer grinders.
“ We have been focusing on localisation for the past several years. Currently almost 90-95 per cent of our Indian portfolio is localised as this also enables us to develop products keeping in mind the needs of Indian consumers,” Taurani added.
Manufacturing capacity expands
Talking about the company’s manufacturing footprint expansion, Taurani said, “ We have two facilities in Chennai and Ahmedabad. In March, we doubled the manufacturing capacity of the Ahmedabad facility. In Chennai too, we have expanded manufacturing capabilities, having localised the air-fryer motor.”
He noted that the company has been witnessing strong double-digit growth in categories such as air fryers, as Indian consumers increasingly seek convenience and authentic recipes.
“ Air-fryers are one of our fastest growing categories. We have been expanding our air-fryer portfolio across price points offering consumers various functionalities and solutions. We are also ramping up our direct distribution for this category to nearly 20,000 outlets,” Taurani stated.
E-commerce, quick-commerce gain traction
The company is witnessing a strong uptick in sales through e-commerce and quick-commerce channels, which now cumulatively account for one-fourth of its sales. Asked about measures to mitigate rising input costs due to geopolitical challenges, he added that the company has implemented selective price increases while also absorbing the impact.