Regency Ceramics Readied Revival Plan: CEO

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-headquartered tiles maker Regency Ceramics, which shut its manufacturing unit at Yanam in 2012 following industrial disputes, has now drawn up plans to revive the unit.  It will invest up to Rs 70 crore in phases to have a total manufacturing capacity of 26,000 sq m per day. Initially, it will start with one line with 7,000 sq m capacity and gradually have four production lines by March 2025, said its chief executive officer Satyendra Prasad N.

Over 50 dealers are appointed in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.  The trial runs at the factory will happen in September while commercial production will begin in October.  At full capacity, Regency will  create about 600 to 800 direct jobs and another 500 indirect jobs, he said.

“After the incident in 2012, we got a settlement from the arbitral tribunal for our insurance claim. That has given us the confidence to go forward. For the first manufacturing line, we are planning to fund it internally from the promoters. Initially, that will be about Rs 8-10 crore. We will have some banking relationship for working capital. There is no term loan. It will be our own money,” he said on the funding plans for the revival.

The machinery will be refurbished and some critical parts will be changed to increase the capacity, he said. The focus will be on automation. “The old equipment remains. However,  a lot of innovation happened in glazing or decoration. It has all become digital now. When we were manufacturing, it was all screens and things like that. So, the latest digital technology is going to be installed,” said Prasad.

Currently, it has a contract manufacturer that makes its tiles. It will expand to Odisha and eastern states. It will have a full range, sizes and variety of tiles.  “Once we start our own production, we are going to dedicate some part of it to producing some exclusive products,” he said. It will also tie up with real estate players to supply tiles for their projects.  

“We have a great brand. We have the assets. And we have the market opportunity. Market is growing at a  Compounded annual growth rate  of 6 to 7%. So, the opportunity is there,” he said.

“We will follow industry practices that are prevalent in other clusters like Morbi.  We are moving to a contract model, which will be linked to production. We will retain maintenance and quality,” said Prasad.