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Egana to don 'Made in India' tag

Bhupesh Bhandari

Next time you pick up an expensive Pratina watch from abroad, chances are the watch is made in India. Egana India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the German watch major Egana which owns brands such as Espirit, Pierre Cardin, MEXX, Carrera and Joop is setting up a pilot plant in Mumbai to make the Pratina line of watches for the global market.

Pratina, Egana officials claim, is the largest selling top end watch in the German market. Apart from Pratina, Egana has a presence in the lower end of the German watch market through its other brand, Dugena.

This is the first time that a European watch major has decided to make India a manufacturing base for serving its global markets, though Titan does export watches from India and an overseas company, Timex of the US, has a manufacturing facility in the country.

Egana India's pilot plant in Mumbai is a part of the $2-million investment lined up by the company for the current year.

According to Egana India managing director Biren Vaidya, depending on the success of the pilot plant Egana might produce other lines of its watches also in India. Vaidya is currently in Switzerland to participate in the annual Basel watch fair.

"The Mumbai plant will be a 100 per cent export-oriented unit," Vaidya told. When asked why Egana is not going to feed the Indian market from the facility at a time when all overseas watch manufacturers are complaining about the 80 per cent import duty on watches, Vaidya said this is because the Indian consumer expects an Egana product to be an imported one.

Egana India is looking at three lines of business in India: watches, jewellery and leather accessories. At present, the company has presence through its three brands in India: Espirit, Carrera and Pierre Cardin.

It is now planning to add two more brands - Ceruti and Ferrano - to its portfolio during the year.

"In India, jewellery and watches are generally sold through separate stores. We are trying to bring the two lines together," Vaidya said.

Egana India is setting up its own retail outlets called Egana Studio in the country. It has already set up two such stores - one each in Mumbai and Bangalore. Vaidya said the company is planning to have a chain of 30 such stores.

Egana is among a handful of foreign watch majors doing business in the country through their own subsidiaries. Most others like to do business through dealers.

Apart from Egana, the Swatch Group (with brands such as Calvin Klein, Longines and Tissot in its stable) and Timex have subsidiaries here.

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