First ‘Made for India’ product meeting tough local conditions manufactured in Pune. Technical team trains plumber fraternity at its state of the art Plumbing Lab.

EUROPEAN LEADER in the field of sanitary technology and bathroom ceramics, Geberit today announced that it has successfully installed One Million Concealed Cisterns across residential and commercial properties in India.

Talking on the occasion Abubaker Koya, Managing Director, India shared “Concealed Cisterns were a new concept to India when we entered the market. From addressing the fear of how hidden cisterns would work, to practising the concept of water and space saving benefits, the team had to articulate and educate both the trade partners and end customers.”

“We have come a long way since and are today proudly celebrating the one million installation of the same system across industries from IT parks, Malls to Manufacturing plants and of course hi end residential building. We enjoy the patronage of leading Indian corporates and developers across the country. In Mumbai about 150 projects are underway which are over 40 floors each and in about 60% of these Geberit has installed its plumbing and flushing products,” Koya added.

“Geberit in India (as a fully owned subsidiary) started in 2010 with its headquarters in Bangalore and a production facility for concealed cisterns in Pune.  The company has since followed the Constraint based Product Innovation - best of modern technology, design and India’s mind-set in designing products exclusively for Indian customers.” said Koya.

Geberit products are available across the length and breadth of India with over 1500 dealers and distributors in its network. While Geberit forayed into India with concealed cisterns and piping (behind the wall) products, the company has moved on to ‘in front of the wall’ products viz. Mera Shower Toilets, Urinals, Sensor Taps etc.

“The sanitaryware industry size in India is about 15,000 crores INR and the space Geberit operates is in about half of it, very specifically at the premium end of the segment. Interestingly the Sanitary Industry in particular, has kept pace with the reality industry (real estate) growth in India at about 10-15% per annum. However, the premium segment within this, where companies like Geberit are major players, has grown at a higher rate >20% per annum.”

“Within the toilets segment, one is seeing a major shift to wall-hung toilets. Due to this change, the new flushing systems (concealed cisterns) market is evolving in a big way and Geberit is a major player in that area today,” said Koya.

Geberit has helped establish a first-of-its-kind plumbing lab at the Pune University, and is working with institutions such as the Indian Plumbing Association etc. to create customised learning and knowledge sharing programmes.

“In lines of what we have established at Pune University, we are in talks with JJ Institute in Mumbai, IIT Delhi and with skill sector councils in Delhi and Kerala to create similar platforms on knowledge sharing. We are happy to share that Geberit technical faculty trains about 5000 plumbers every year at its lab,” added Koya.