TTK Prestige to exit modular kitchens
TTK Prestige is exiting the modular kitchens business. It is, however, launching more products for the Indian kitchen, including a range of high-end stainless steel and ceramic cookware and storage containers during April-June 2012.
The company launched its modular kitchens business six years ago. “We realised quality was becoming an issue as we had no control over the setting up of the kitchens and our brand was suffering,” said Mr T.T. Jagannathan, Chairman, TTK Group of Companies.
“We have tied up with US-based World Kitchen to bring premium kitchenware into the country,” he said. World Kitchen owns/licences brands such as Pyrex, Corelle and Ekco. Mr Jagannathan said the Indian kitchen is now at the centre of the house and hence premium kitchenware is in demand.
Upbeat on induction cookers
Apart from the cookware range, the company is now buoyant on sales of its induction cookers, which have touched one million units this year. “Sale of induction cookers has a direct correlation with the availability of gas,” he said, adding that rural India had caught on to the trend of induction cooking. The company has sold 5.2 million pressure cookers so far during the current fiscal and expects to touch the six-million mark by the end of the year. Pointing to the trend of a quicker replacement cycle for pressure cookers, he says what used to be a lifetime purchase is now being replaced every three years. “In fact, 80 per cent of our sales are replacement sales,” he says.
