By IANS
Ahmedabad : Vitrified tiles manufacturing firm Asian Granito (India) Ltd (AGIL) has begun commercial production Tuesday at its Rs.487-million ($12.4 million) wall tiles project in Gujarat.
The company raised funds through an initial public offer in July last year to execute the project.
Wall tile is a glazed ceramic tile, which is predominantly used in wet areas such as showers and bathrooms as it lends itself to easy cleaning.
A feature of the project is that the company says it can produce wall tiles as big as 300 mm x 900 mm. Wall tiles of such a size is a first in India, the company said.
Hasmukh Patel, managing director of the company, said the start of commercial production is in line with the January 2008 deadline indicated by the company at the time of the share issue.
The new unit, with a manufacturing capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year, is located at Dalpur village in Himmatnagar, about 60 km from Ahmedabad, and is adjoining the company’s existing unit where it produces vitrified tiles.
Patel said ceramic wall tiles are used in both interior and exterior decoration. In India, the use of ceramic tiles has been limited till now. But the trend is changing fast and they are now extensively used as they are proving to be cost effective, providing at the same time an attractive look to buildings.
Apart from implementing the wall tile project, the company has also expanded the production capacity of vitrified tiles from 117,500 tonnes per year to 134,300 tonnes.
Globally with a 20 percent annual growth rate, vitrified tiles is the fastest moving segment of the ceramic tile industry accounting for close to 10 percent of the overall production. In India, too, vitrified tiles are emerging as the next generation of flooring material.
The Indian ceramic industry is almost 100 years old and is growing at the rate of 12 percent to 15 percent a year. Currently, there are 33 units in the organised sector with an installed capacity of 85.15 million tonnes (MT).
India is ranked fifth in the world in terms of production and consumption of ceramic tiles.
General economic growth, growth in housing, construction and retail outlet sector, rise in income levels, and replacement demand for tiles are some of the key factors spurring the growth of the industry.
Lower cost of production, good potential for exports in addition to government support has helped in making tiles more affordable.
AGIL caters to the construction industry’s needs for residential and commercial use. The company’s product range includes glazed, unglazed, rustic, matte, and tiles manufactured through water-jet cutting, tailor-made designs or customised according to customer needs.
AGIL started its operations in October 2003 by setting up a new manufacturing unit for vitrified tiles with a capacity of 4,000 sq metres per day. The unit is an ISO 9001:2000 certified unit.
The company has identified a group of destinations where they believe that the demand for their products will increase substantially, such as the US, which have traditionally been large importers of ceramic tiles.