Kajaria is the largest manufacturer of ceramic / vitrified tiles in India with an annual aggregate capacity of 68.37 mn. sq. meters. Founded 31 years ago, Kajaria has grown stronger with its hard work, innovations and patronage from its discerning customers. With the Indian consumers' rapidly growing appetite for quality building materials, Kajaria believes in expanding its horizon continuously. Therefore, after successfully establishing themselves in the tiles segment, Kajaria entered the sanitary ware category with Kerovit.
Kajaria last year, the company forayed in the field of wood panel products by establishing Kajaria Plywood Pvt. Ltd. (a subsidiary of Kajaria Ceramics Ltd.). This venture has been offering wood panel products under the brand name of KajariaPLY and currently has plywood & block board in their portfolio. With an unwavering commitment towards quality and customer satisfaction, KajariaPLY has strived to adopt the finest standards of the modern times.
With robust push for schemes like ‘Housing for All by 2022’, the idea is to encash such opportunities & transform this traditional industry. Terms like ‘Affordable Housing’ have always been misconstrued as an apology of a shelter to meet the needs of the homeless but as a responsible brand of this progressive nation in the throes of development, Kajaria PLY believes in constructive development of a habitat which is able to provide appropriate living standards for all. With this one vision, the current product portfolio has been structured
and comprises of 12 different sub-brands catering to various requirements of market. Ranging from the premium Metallic Series (Platinum, Gold Maxx, Gold & Silver) to the affordable Pro Series (Pro 710 & Pro Build), the gamut offers a complete range of plywood and block board options. Apart from existing products, the brand is foraying into Flush Doors to widen its portfolio and tap the fenestration market as well.
“KajariaPLY has deliberately adopted an unconventional, asset-light model in the wood panel industry. This gives us flexibility and nimbleness to respond to evolving market trends and customer requirements in all geographies in an efficient manner owing to our transparent business model where our carefully chosen independent vendor partners across India provide graded material of a specific construction and quality under the watchful eyes of our on-site QC personnel. For KajariaPLY team members, it is a big responsibility to maintain and grow the trust of a super-brand like Kajaria, not only for our end customers and vendor partners but also our channel partner family which has already grown to almost 150 dealers across 15 States. The most important thing is that we are here to implement a very clear vision wherein the basic foundation has now been laid and the scale supported by an expanded product portfolio will follow in the medium to long term” says Mr. Ankur Sachdeva, Chief Operating Officer, Kajaria Plywood Pvt. Ltd.
The Kajaria PLY Approach
As per the business model, KajariaPLY does not intend to add to the existing over - capacity in terms of production and therefore has been aggregating various unorganised & semi - organised manufacturers through robust tie - ups by up - skilling and upgrading plant capabilities along with technical & financial inputs. Currently 5 such tie - ups are successfully working with KajariaPLY and they intend to take this count higher as the business touches new levels.
Given their unique business model, KajariaPLY have been able to shift the existing capacity into organised part of the industry and formal economy, thereby helping to grow the organised market share via an indirect blue ocean strategy.
In an industry - first, KajariaPLY have appointed Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh as their brand ambassador and also have undertaken multiple micro - level steps to give themselves a uniqueidentity (integrationof QR code with Hologram, embedded with12 security features on their product label to prohibit counterfeiting etc.).
The brand proposition of 'India Jaisa Strong', truly reflects the tone of India's demographic strength viz. Young, Dynamic, Patriotic & Passionate and reinforces the definitive commitment which KajariaPLY has set for their customers.
KajariaPLY have appointed channel partners across North & West India over the last 12 months and have recently started operations in the southern states of Karnataka & Kerala since April 2019. These channel partners not only have a deep understanding of the plywood business but also have the rich experience of handling other product categories within the building material space, therefore deriving business synergies.
KajariaPLY is also driving a ground level program of engaging & coaching carpenters as well as contractors for using quality products along with correct application based on individual requirements of endconsumers, thereby addressing all levels of marketplace.