David Kohler, President and CEO of Kohler Worldwide, spoke exclusively to BW Businessworld on doing business in India and how demonetisation has affected his business.
“We really look at India as one of the three most strategic markets in the world for Kohler companies. United States, China and then India. We think if you look at these markets and you look at their population size and their GDPs going forward, they are going to be the three largest economies in the world so we definitely have to have a position in these three markets,” he said in response to a question on the importance of the Indian market for the company.
About the company’s learnings in the Indian market, Kohler says, “I think you are always learning in India. We’ve learned so many things over the years. First and foremost though, I think it’s the importance of a strong local team. We’ve really built an excellent local organisation here that understands the culture, understands the market and has really taken up the Kohler brand and understands our heritage and really has built our culture as a company here and that’s been the key to all of our success.”
“We have seen a dramatic impact right away with demonetisation. We think it will be temporary, it could take two months or three months or four months, it’s certainly been a jolt to the economy, it’s reduced spending in the short term, but hopefully that will stabilise over time. We are committed to India over the long haul and so we understand that there’s going to be some volatility occasionally in the market,” Kohler says, commenting on the demonetisation.
Speaking about the company’s long-term plans in the Indian market, Kohler says, “In ten years we have achieved the leading international brand status in India. Over time we want to be the leading brand in India overall. We are really focused on that, but most importantly, every day, we are focused on being the best that we can be. We want to bring the latest and the newest technology to the market. Provide excellent service and support throughout our network. After sales service is so important in India, so we want to make sure we the best service, both pre-sale and post-sale of anybody in the market.”
While Kohler products in India are all of international standard, “one difference which we have made sure to engineer for is the hard water conditions here. India on average has harder water than anywhere else we do major business. We have to make sure that all of our valves and interfaces that come in contact with water are engineered to withstand that. We have one of the most advanced faucet facilities in India in Gujarat and we do hard PVD coatings on all of our faucets, that are not only beautiful, but can withstand difficult conditions,” Kohler said, adding that their Indian manufacturing facilities are also used to export to Europe and the US, and the company is now looking to expand manufacturing. Kohler said.
