How's been the first half of the ongoing financial year? How would you compare the performance vis-à-vis last year? What kind of revenues are you looking at by the end of this fiscal?
For the year ended 2016-17, the company registered a turnover of Rs.800 crore up from Rs.680 crore recorded in the previous year - registering a CAGR of about 20 percent. For the next year we are targeting a turnover of Rs.1000 crore.
You have recently entered into the GCC market. What is prompting this expansion drive?
People in Dubai prefer drinking bottled water, due to taste and purity concerns of tap water. However, the consuming bottled water is not convenient, as women find it difficult to lift and install the bulky 20-litre cans on water vending machines. Moreover, it is costly to purchase bottled water as well. Here, our purifiers are compact and convenient and purify tap water to better than bottled water quality, at a very low cost. Besides being economical and convenient, purifying tap water at home using our system, is much safer as compared to bottled water, and is tasty also.
The brand's wide range of household appliances will be available at LuLu Hypermarkets. The company has joined hands with UAE's Sands International for the distribution of its products across the GCC. The move is a part of the company's broader expansion plans into the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) in the next few years. Recent research indicates that the region`s demand for water purifiers is growing at more than 7 per cent per annum and the market could reach nearly half a billion dollars by 2020. We have been steadily expanding into the international markets. Kent's association with Sands International and LuLu Hypermarkets will kick-start a new business era for us in the GCC market.
Currently, what is the domestic to overseas ratio of your revenues? How do you see it changing with the recent developments?
The company is looking to double its exports in next two years. Our export turnover is about Rs.25crore and we are targeting at Rs.50 crore in the next two years. The company exports products to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and a few of the Middle Eastern Countries.
Kent RO has introduced the ‘Save Water Technology'. Tell us about this innovation.
The RO purification process is essential to remove dissolved impurities like arsenic, fluorides, heavy metals, etc., as they are harmful for health. Conventional RO purification technology, while purifying, rejects a very high percentage of water (around 80 percent) and only 20 percent purified water is recovered. Balance water is wasted and goes down the drain.
First of its kind, Kent's Save Water Technology™ will boost pure water recovery from 20 percent to more than 50 percent. The heart of this technology is a computer controlled process wherein the membrane is washed automatically and more than 50 percent of water intake is recovered as purified water. The balance rejected water is stored in a separate ‘Reject Water Tank', which can be utilized by consumers for household purposes.
On the whole, conventional RO water purifiers require 40 litres of raw water to produce 10 litres of pure and drinkable water, so you can very well imagine how much water is being flushed away daily. Realising this huge problem and technology lag country wide, Kent RO systems Limited has come up with this innovative "Save Water Technology". This is undeniably one of the biggest source to save wastage of drinking water at house hold level. As the global demand for water is encroaching on its supply, there is a need for recycled water. To improve efficiency in corporate water use, we need to innovate around water reuse technology and enhance water education and outreach. To make a viable option for clean water resources in the country, sustainable forms of cooperation between the private sector and government bodies are essential.
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