Usha International to focus on strengthening rural distribution in 2021

By Rituraj Baruah

New Delhi, Jan 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Electronic appliances maker Usha International will focus on strengthening its distribution network for the rural markets in the year ahead, said Dinesh Chhabra, CEO of Usha International.

In an interaction with IANS, Chhabra said that with the growth of the digital space, the company will continue to consolidate its presence in the online segment.

"With the digital economy share set to grow in the coming year, we aim to continue our efforts towards owning the space along with strengthening our distribution network for the reviving rural markets," he said.

The CEO told IANS that the rural market has shown a consistent growth post lockdown and the main reasons behind this include reverse migration, enhanced government schemes towards rural welfare, and changing lifestyle and requirements of people.

While urban demand after seeing initial signs of contraction has started gaining positive momentum, the sale of appliances during the pandemic has largely been driven by an increasing influx of demand from small towns and rural parts of India, he added.

"Over the years, Usha has built its pan-India presence to become a household name both in villages and cities, offering a diverse portfolio of products. In terms of demand from metropolitan cities, we have realised that in order to be relevant, we would require to ramp up our digital consumer engagement and investments across the e-commerce space," said Chhabra.

Speaking on the growth prospects for the appliances major, he said that the company was able to log double-digit growth last year and expects a similar performance in 2021 on the back of its continuous innovations and revamp in operations.

As a brand, he said that the foremost priority of the company would be to ensure the safety of its workforce.

"We will also carefully reflect upon the year gone by in order to develop new efficiencies required in the 'new normal'," he said.

Further, redesigning its training and development programmes and evolving its business models to keep up with the times is on the company's agenda for this year.

The CEO told IANS that Usha International's business has returned to normal and its expansion strategy is underway.

"We have made the required investments for expanding our retail footprint across platforms and retail formats across India. As we expect social distancing to remain the norm even in the coming year, we are also strengthening our display and assortment along storefronts so that consumers can explore the display from outside without the need of stepping inside the retail outlet," he added.

Talking about prospective product launches this year, Chhabra said that the company has various launches planned across product categories. The company is widening its product portfolio across categories, including fans, sewing machines, kitchen appliances, fabric care and lighting.

Usha International's focus is also to offer a range of heating solutions to cater to the need of the consumers. It has also planned multiple launches for fans and air cooler categories going ahead in the year.

Chhabra also said that the company has registered a growth 30 per cent in the international markets as it caters to neighbouring countries, Middle East and African countries.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)

Source: IANS