TTK Prestige aims to triple revenue

TTK Prestige, the country's largest kitchenware and appliances maker, plans to grow annual revenue a little over three times in five years, to Rs 5,000 crore, as it expands into cleaning solutions and aims to increase exports.

The Bengaluru-based entity expects annual export to grow 10-fold to Rs 500 crore, looking at earning higher margins by selling branded products through Horwood Homeware, the UK brand it acquired early this year.

Last year, the firm shipped cookers and electric appliances worth Rs 40 crore to brands across Japan, Europe and the US.

"We launch roughly 100 new products a year and 85 per cent of our sales comes from products launched in the past five years. So, it is a very new company, not an 86- or 87-year-old one," said T T Jagannathan, 67, executive chairman.

"The (Prestige) brand is not owned by us outside India ,so our exports till now have been only commodity exports or white label, and the brand owner is the one that makes money. We needed a brand outside India to be able to go to the world, " he said.

TTK Prestige had doubled its annual revenue in the past five years as it expanded into electric appliances, helping it change from a south-based company to market leadership across the country.

Electric appliances contribute 42.6 per cent to revenue, against 35.4 per cent from its traditional pressure cooker business.

"(The target) is difficult with only kitchen space. We will be walking out of the kitchen and entering new segments like cleaning solutions we have already come up with," said Jagannathan. "India is moving towards a branded country and, without doubt, our growth has been helped by that."

In April, the company said it would expand into the cleaning solutions business, offering solutions such as an electric mop, designed for Indian conditions at its Hosur facility.

TTK Prestige also claims market leadership online with its products across marketplaces such as Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, while also selling on its website.

"Online offers any brand a huge opportunity and we have built enough infrastructure to leverage the technology. We have made several digital initiatives to make sure we are very salient, available on every platform, including our own," said Chandru Kalro, managing director. "We have four fulfilment centres across the country and an omni-channel presence is being built."

TTK Prestige has a little over 200 outlets across India that deliver products locally for customers who order online.

The debt-free company said it would use its existing capacity to produce new products.

Jagannathan says he will be the last member of his family to hold an executive position in the company.

"After me, there will be no one from the family. We have looked at certain young youth to do our succession planning; we have filled up all the gaps. Chandru (MD) is not even 50 and so, he has another 10-15 years still. I am not looking beyond that; that is someone else's job. My sons will join the board after I go. One of them is already on the board," said Jagannathan.