The world's third largest ceramic industry is banking on India's love for gaudy tiles

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The world's third largest ceramic industry is banking on India's love for gaudy tiles

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  • Indian ceramic industry, which is presently the third largest producer in the world, is reportedly planning to double turnover by 2021.
  • In the recent times, the construction sector has grown by 7%-8%.
  • Within India’s ceramic market, 70% of the total output comes from Gujarat alone.
Indian government’s spending on construction and real estate ahead of elections, including affordable housing is set to boost demand for ceramic products in the country.

Indian ceramic industry, which is presently the third largest producer in the world, is reportedly planning to ramp up its yield to double by 2021.

As the country makes room for new development projects, the increasing demand for faucets and tiles has lead to 7%-8% growth in construction sector. The demand for industrial ceramic products such as ceramic tiles, sanitary wares and pipes required in construction applications too are expected to increase.

Given that the government has announced an investment of $376.5 billion in infrastructure by 2020, the ceramic industry “expects a huge growth in volume,” Tarun Marwah, Director, Messe Muenchen India, told IANS. He noted that the industry is divided equally into two — organised sector comprising large players and unorganised sector.

India has also been stepping up its efforts to increase reach for the global ceramic market. According to the current data, 70% of the total output comes from Gujarat alone. The Morbi ceramic industry in Gujarat will receive an estimated investment of ₹15 billion in 2019, with plans to establish 50 new wall tiles manufacturing plants.
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However, in recent years despite the construction projects undertaken, the top ceramic product makers — Kajaria Ceramics, Somany Ceramics, Cera Sanitaryware, Asian Granito — witnessed slow revenue growth.


The numbers, however, do not reflect the boost that was expected from the Modi government's move to construct toilets around the country under the ‘Clean India’ initiative aimed at constructing 111 million toilets in next five years. According to Euromonitor International, the government’s other initiatives such as the national hygiene drive led to 81% jump in sales of concrete building materials.

Premium brands like Jaguar and Nitco have also taken the creamy layer of customers on top of the pyramid.

Things may now be turning around now. Real estate has got a new lease of life. With the improving demand, the housing sales in 2018 increased by 15% in the west and 20% in the southern cities in India with new launches up by 77%, according to homegrown property consultant Anarock.

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Moreover, with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council slashing tax rates further on under-construction properties — 5% on normal category and 1% for affordable housing — is also likely to benefit the homebuyers and construction sector.

"Because of the global recession, production in the ceramic industry world wide is going down. From 2015 to 2018, there were too many ceramic products without any buyers. So we need to find buyers, find out ways to export our products which will take a long time," Ken Wong, General Manager at Unified Exhibition Service reportedly said.

See also:
From affordable housing to co-working spaces — here’s how 2018 fared for Indian real estate

Interim Budget 2019 may help homebuyers and not builders

Indian real estate builders welcome GST relief but opinions are divided
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