NAME: Shashidar Patil
COMPANY: Tile Italia.
ACTIVITY: In business since 1981, the company has own marble processing factory in Bangalore.
1. What is the current situation of the local market?
Everything is connected to the Indian economy, indeed the world economy. Market has been slow for last 3-4 years because the short term impact of the government reforms has been negative though they will be very positive in medium and long term. Business is down by 30-35% depending on the company. There are less projects compared to before but the residential segment is stable.
2. What are the most important colours you sell?
Light grey from Turkey is preferred. The different white colours from Carrara. Beige is still preferred for projects.
3. How do you see the market developing in the future?
Everything is connected to the global economy, and the coronavirus is having its effects. 2020 may not be a good year. But we do expect the real estate sector to pick up and 2022 to be better.
NAME: Sourabh Agarwal
COMPANY: Millenium Marbles Pvt Ltd
ACTIVITY: two processing factories in India. Founded in 2004
1. What is the current situation of the local market?
Lot of players thay have jumped into the market in recent years. Price wars are now there. People from the granite industry working with low margins have entered the marble import business. From the customer pont of view a lot of people are aspiring to use natural stone and they make the effort to visit several factories. Around 70 to 80% of them are quality conscious. In projects the clients are price sensitive.
2. What are the most important colours you sell?
Beige marble (beige travetine), Myra beige, Sofita Beige from Turkey and Italy, dark and Irish brown from China, Savana grey from Turkey, Carrara from Italy.
3. How do you see the market developing in the future?
Market will become more organised and there will be streamlining of the buying process. We expect the market to shift towards exclusive materials.
NAME: Vinay Babu
COMPANY: Krismar
ACTIVITY: Company formed in 2004. Has processing facility in Colombo and also in Jigni (Bangalore).
1. What is the current situation of the local market?
As company we are happy with overall situation. Private consumption by the home owner is bouyant. However, projects have gone down by 50 to 60% so the real estate sector is lacklustre
2. What are the most important colours you sell?
Grey and white marbles are very much in demand. Architects across the board are moving towards white and grey. Beige is down. Opera Fantasy and Erey Grey, both from Turkey, are popular and also Vietnam white, Statuario.
3. How do you see the market developing in the future?
Very positive in short term. Three years ago, the government policies opened the marble trade and now there are more than 125 companies just in Bangalore with stockyards, while previously there were around 6 to 8.
NAME: Gurmeet Singh Modi
COMPANY: Link Marble
ACTIVITY: marble and granite processing factory in Sri Lanka. Founded in 2001.
1. What is the current situation of the local market?
Mostly residential project are stopped retail is so so
2. What are the most important colours you sell?
No material in particular, but we observe that all the materials from Turkey, Italy and Spain sell well.
3. How do you see the market developing in the future?
The potential remains big, but it will take time for the market to gain momentum.
