Market Each sunrise is not just the dawn ofanother day; for a country like India, in a hurry to catch up with the rest of the developed world it is, in fact, theemergence of another opportunity toplay tag. It is for this reason that businessand industry are booming in India andthe spectre of the ghost that ate upentire economies two years ago hassimply disappeared without trace. Of themany signs that the poltergeist has fled, isthe renewed vigour and energy in thehousing and infrastructure developmentsectors. Hundreds of thousands ofprojects now dot the Indian landscape.

In this round of progress one big changestands out: a great deal of developmentalactivity is centred around semi-urban hubs withseveral leading to rural areas.This necessarilymeans that the economically weaker sections ofsociety can, for the first time, have a lintel roofabove their heads and boast of a coveredwashroom.This happening is a good sign forIndia’s sanitary ware industry.

But there is more. Fuelled partly by ruraldevelopment, partly by evolving demographicsegged on by nuclear families, rising incomes,higher aspirations and affordable mortgages andpartly by an entire market moving from theunorganised sector to the structured, thesanitary ware industry is estimated, by some, tobe growing at over 15% per annum.

Sitting atop this very alive business isHindustan Sanitaryware & IndustriesLimited (HSIL).

HSIL is a pioneer-manufacturerthat commenced operationsmore than 50 yearsago.Thankssubstantially to theefforts of thiscompany, theorganised sanitaryware market in India

is closing in on themagical figure of Rs. 1000 crore (US$ 222.20 million).Despite growingcompetition, HSILitself continues toshow sterlingperformance,commanding a shareof more than 40%(Source: internalestimates) andservicing it through anetwork of morethan 1400 dealers and 12,000 retailers.

AchievementsOver the years, HSIL has been consistentlyacknowledged as an innovative organisation.

Indeed, HSIL is credited with bringing inthe very concept of vitreous china

sanitary ware to India anddefining thestandards ofquality for theseproducts.

With abackground such as

this, none will be

surprised to learn that HSIL has won literallydozens of awards and recognitions.Thecompany was deemed an inspirationalorganisation and honoured with the Bizz 2010award by WorldCob, a leading industryassociation headquartered in Houston in theUS. IMM, a leading business school, awardedHSIL with the 2010 IMM Award for Excellenceand the World Environment Fund bestowedupon the company their Golden PeacockNational Quality award and the Golden PeacockEnvironment Management award.The Capexiland IES Excellence awards – both in 2009 –further substantiated HSIL’s pre-eminent status.Interestingly, HSIL has also won the BusinessSuperbrand award all three times – 2005, 2008and 2010 – that the accolade has beendeclared.

While the company has distinguished itself,the brand that it has nurtured, too, has wonplaudits. Brand Hindware won the prestigiousElle Deco International Design award in both2008 and 2010; in the same year CII GBC 7th National Award declared two of itsdevelopments The Most Innovative Water SavingProducts besides being awarded, thrice, byGolden Peacock awards for its innovation,quality and environment management.Thebrand has been honoured twice by 4Ps in India’s100 Most Admired Brands and was given thePowerbrand award in 2010 and was twicedeclared a Consumer Superbrand in 2007 andin 2009. Reader’s Digest, too, has thricebestowed the Trusted Brand award on it.

HistoryIn the 1960s Indian industry was subjected towhat is euphemistically referred to as the

Licence-PermitRaj.This simplymeant thatentrepreneurshad to takepermissionbefore startingan industry.Since the biggerbusiness housesof that time hadalready reservedthe morelucrativecategories theones with low

interest were left for grabs. A chance visit to ahospital in Madras – now Chennai – whichreportedly had to wait for more than one yearto obtain sanitary ware it had ordered, openeda door of opportunity.

After visits to several manufacturers abroad,Twyfords was chosen to be its joint venturepartner. Hindustan Twyfords Limited was born in1962 and pioneered vitreous china ceramicsanitary ware in India. Its first plant wascommissioned in the same year in Bahadurgarh.Within three years, it had received the ISI mark,established the standardised formulation andhad taken complete charge.The company’sname was changed to Hindustan Sanitaryware &

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Industries Limited.As it expanded itsoperations it sought

other areas ofinterest. In 1981it acquired

Associated GlassIndustries Limited (AGI) inHyderabad and in 1989 KrishnaCeramics Limited at Bibinagar alsoin Andhra Pradesh.

The 1990s were a period ofrapid up gradation. HSIL installedIndia’s first state-of-the-art, open-flame tunnel kiln imported fromthe UK and launched its brand,Hindware.The company sooncrossed Rs. 100 crore (now US$ 22.20 million) in turnover andgained recognition amongst ForbesGlobal 100 Best Small andMedium Companies. In 1999 itacquired Raasi Ceramics in

Hyderabad and in the same year became anISO 9000 company and earned the EN ISO14001 certification for environmentmanagement systems.

In the 2000s, HSIL upped the tempo andin quick succession entered into a strategicpartnership with Sanitec of Europe to bringin their largest selling European brand,Keramag, to India, received the OHSAS18001 certification, developed sub-brandsin Hindware Italian Collection andHindware Art and Hindware and – toreflect its wider operations – renamed itselfHSIL Limited.

ProductBrand Hindware offers thelargest range of sanitaryware products in thecountry.The huge successthis has met encouraged HSIL to entercomplementary categories such as bath-fittings, wellness products and kitchenappliances.

However, it is in its core segment ofsanitary ware that HSIL continues to reignunimpeded. Its decision to create threedistinct categories has proven to be anoutstanding judgement of the market. WhileHindware Art, its high-end premium range andHindware Italian Collection, its range of fullyimported products drives its image, Hindwareitself – a brand in the popular segment – drivesits volumes.

The bath-fittings segment, too, has beenrejuvenated by HSILs entry.The company has arange of fourteen different themes, supportedby three unique selling propositions: superiorcasting which ensures a leak-free product; triplecoating to guarantee a long-lasting lustre andvery special cartridges, manufactured oncomputer-aided machines, promises a near-zero defect.The latest addition is the LED showers range.

In the wellness product range, Hindware

offers multi-functionenclosures andspas and massagetubs with pre-fitted whirlpools.The brand alsooffers a widerange ofergonomicallydesigned bath tubsin steel and acrylicand showerenclosures with toughenedsafety glass.

In the kitchensegment, Hindwareoffers a top-of-the-line range ofsinks, built-in hoods and hobs, designerchimneys, cooking ranges and built-in ovens.

Recent Developments2010/11 marks HSILs golden jubilee. Almost as though on cue, the company notched up its highest ever turnover of Rs. 836 crore

(US$ 185.80million) – anincrease of a stunning 29% over the previousyear – andannounced a100% dividend.

With onelandmark having

been crossed, the companyviewed the beginning of thenext as another challenge tobe negotiated. In this pursuit

HSIL enteredthe Rs. 9000crore (US$ 2billion) tilemarket with arange of top-end floor- andwall- tiles,

sourced from the mostrespected manufacturers acrossthe world.This addition plugs along-pending breach in HSIL’sbusiness portfolio.

2010 also underscoredseveral other milestones. Astrategic investment in a green-

field container glass facility gave the companycontrol of 70% of the market in South India andenhanced manufacturing capacity from 15,000tonnes per annum (TPA) to 360,000 TPA. AGIis, today, the country’s second largest containerglass manufacturer and counts most prestigiousbrands from the pharmaceutical, beverages, andliquor industries as its clients.

Another strategic acquisition was thechrome-plated bathroom fittings division of

Havells that operated underthe Crabtree brand name,which has recently been re-branded and re-introducedas Benelave.

The third acquisition wasBarwood Products of the UK.This acquisition will pave theway for HSIL to developglobal markets.

PromotionHSILs promotion strategy hasbeen the result of feedbackgenerated from the field andintense market studies.

Between them, the company is able to analyseemerging trends and develop both products andcommunications that would meet them. It is thisthat has kept competition at bay and HSIL at adistinct advantage.

The most recent evolution has emerged fromthe take that increasingly washrooms arebecoming personal haunts and synonymous withsuch modern lexicon as ‘me-time’ and ‘myspace’.These expressions have found voice in thecompany’s new positioning statement – Get In,Get Charged – and in the exquisite new rangeunder its Italian Collection.The first, of course issuggestive of an invitation and the second is theperceived effect of acceptance.

Hindware communicates using all appropriatemedia vehicles. Besides television, Hindwaretargets young buyers through FM radio, theinternet and mobile marketing initiatives.Thesecomplement its sustained print and out-of-homepresence. At the retail level the brand isshowcased and presented to consumersthrough its chain of Hindware Lacasa outletssupported across India by select Hindwareboutiques and Hindware arcades.

Brand ValuesSeveral things drive HSIL Limited.The first is anavowed responsibility towards its customers andthe second is its concern for the environment.These have been addressed in the quality of theproducts HSIL manufactures and in the greenprocesses that it has adopted at its plants.

www.hindwarehomes.com

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HSIL manufactures five sanitary ware piecesevery minute; 310 every hour and 2.80 millioneach year

Using advanced flushing technology, Hindwarebathroom products save 167,000 litres of waterper bathroom per year

Hindware Nano, its electronic water closet,uses just 1.50 litres to flush

Hindware’s range of intelligent urinals usesmicrowave and infrared technology to minimisewater use

In 2010, the company introduced over 50 newdesigns under its bathrooms, bath-fittings andkitchen categories

HSIL can manufacture 953 million bottles perannum with the capability of simultaneouslymanufacturing 400 different products in threecolours

HSIL is the second largest manufacturer of glasscontainers in India

Things you didn’t know aboutHSIL

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