Jaquar Group Aims For $1 billion Topline By 2022, Eyeing Non-metro Cities

Jaquar Group, a homegrown firm that sells faucets, showers, shower enclosures, sanitary ware, flushing systems, wellness products, concealed cisterns, water heaters, and varied lighting products, is now looking to double its last year’s turnover to Rs. 7,200 crore+ (US$ 1 billion) in the next couple of years despite market blues. Interestingly, the Manesar, Gurgaon -headquartered company is not looking to achieve this target through inorganic route or by diversifying into new product categories., Rajesh Mehra, Director and Promoter, Jaquar Group revealed that its expansion in rural and overseas markets would be its growth enablers. The company is also planning to establish 16 stores (11 up and running) globally at London, Milan, Singapore, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and other locations by 2022. 

While having an e-chat with BW Businessworld’s Editor-in-Chief Dr. Annurag Batra during ‘BW Dialogue on Leadership’ (Episode- 22), Mehra stated, “Last year, we had clocked Rs. 3,600 crore and are looking to double the amount in two years. Everybody has lost 3 to 4 years in this pandemic. But we have bucked the trend as our global business has grown tremendously. In order to achieve this target, we have aggressive expansion plans and overseas sales. We have made a substantial investment in the last few years and a couple of our manufacturing plants will go on stream now. Our vision is to make it a global brand in the bathroom and lighting segments.”

It is to be mentioned Jaguar Group currently employs over 10,000 people including 1,200 service technicians and runs 5 manufacturing facilities in India and 1 in South Korea (2 new plants commissioned). Currently, it manufactures 1,25,000 million faucets per day, 28 million bath fittings every year for nearly 2.4 million bathrooms every year. It presently operates in over 60 countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific Africa, and SAARC region.

Mehra, who is also the second-generation entrepreneur of the company., revealed, “I always maintain that we are a 60-year young company equivalent to a child learning every day from his experiences. My father (late N. L. Mehra) started this business in 1960 and we joined in the late 70s as second-generation entrepreneurs. We (later) decided we will bring a complete change in our products, services, design and customer experiences. This where we launched the ‘Jaquar’ brand in 1986. This brand brought a revolution in the Indian market in terms of manufacturing, marketing and unique customer care services. 15 years later, we moved beyond faucets and became a complete bathroom solutions provider. Later, we diversified into lighting solutions as well. So today, we are a company which provides a unique proposition of both complete bathroom and lighting solutions to its customers.” 

It is interesting to note that Jaquar Group offers multiple brands under its umbrella. While brand ‘Artize’ is earmarked for the Luxury segment, Brand ‘Jaquar’ is for premium segment Brand ‘Essco’ for value segment and Jaquar Lighting for complete lighting solutions. While the company is well entrenched in the urban markets, it is now training its guns on semi-urban and rural markets as next growth frontiers. 

Shedding some further light on the potentialities in non-metro markets, Mehra affirmed, “This is not a market philosophy but a market trend in India. Our ‘Essco’ brand is not just for tier 2 and tier 3 markets, but also for tier 4 and tier 5 markets. We are penetrating in a big way into the most simple, ordinary, underdeveloped markets. Today, almost 70% of the market is converted into organised. Coming to the remaining 30% of the market, which comprises tier-IV, tier-V and rural areas, we see this as a very huge market. This is where we are exploring the ‘Essco’ brand, giving the customer experience of quality. It is not just about making a product and giving it to our dealers. Our sales team go down and give all the awareness and education to our customers enlighten them about quality at the most modest price. That is the future of India.”

Mehra also maintains that Jaquar has always responded to the headwinds in the market by offering tailormade solutions that has ultimately resulted in establishing itself in domestic and overseas markets.

Citing the example of Calcutta, which it believes is its mother market that it cracked by recalibrating its product lines, Mehra revealed, “Calcutta market was extremely challenging in terms of (product) usage. There were challenges like the quality of water, etc., which was not very satisfactory. So, we responded to the market challenge and modified our products in such a way that they work in the best and longest in those difficult conditions,” adding, “Over the last 55 years of our working, we are the largest selling brand in that city. Earlier it was Essco, now it is Jaquar and later Artize and all the three brands are doing excellent. Our group has more than 80% market share in entire Eastern India. I must say that Calcutta is one of the core markets for us where the customers have trusted us for generations. Even after 60 years, Essco is like a household name in Calcutta.”

When asked about the USP of its company, Mehra maintained that it runs the relationship-based company and have never lost its customers and dealers in its growth journey.

Spelling out the mantra of his company, Mehra maintained, “Every new thing (which comes into the market) encounter a lot of resistance and we had to be patient enough to convince our customers such as builders, hoteliers, etc. Once you overcome this initial situation and the customer has understood about your product, then there is no looking back. One of the principles laid down out by my father is we have to give the best of the quality of products along with the best of the services. Everyone believes take care of your customers and your business is being taken care of.”