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| Sunday, 31 March 2002 |
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Furniture manufacturer opens another showroom in India DAMRO, winner of the 'Surya Me' award for the best imported furniture for 2001 presented by the Indian Social and Cultural Academy, Super Surya Combines, opened its latest showroom in Cochin, in Kerala State recently. The new showroom and sales point is the third opened by DAMRO Co. (Pvt) Ltd. in India. The first was opened in 2001 in Chennai, and is now doing good business. DAMRO, an indigenous Sri Lankan company, which claims to be the largest furniture manufacturer in the country, created history on October 2, 2000, pioneering the first furniture showroom and distribution complex in Chennai, India. This was the first Lankan business venture established in Indian soil after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in March last year. According to the FTA signed by the two countries, India has to provide tariff concessions to Sri Lankan goods for three years beginning this year. At present India has granted 50 per cent tariff concessions. The opening of the Damro Furniture House on Indian soil has paved the way for Sri Lankan-made quality furniture to be sold in the Indian market and thereby earn foreign exchange to the tune of one million US dollars a month. DAMRO Chairman and Managing Director Damitha Ramanayake told the Sunday Observer that efforts will be made to have DAMRO showrooms in at least 20 Indian states within five years. He said the recent Indian budget has reduced tariffs for furniture by 90 per cent. That was a good encouragement for business people like himself. "The benefit of the tariff reduction will go down to customers and we are in for more business as a result," he said. "We have set up a separate production plant and recruit new hands to create new designs to suit foreign markets," he added. Referring to Sri Lanka's open economic policy and the Indo-Lanka Treaty, Mr. Ramanayake said that his company welcomes competition. "Competition is a must for development of the industry. If there is no competition, we will keep on supplying the same product. But when there is competition, we have to be more active and conscious of the market demands. Competition is a healthy sign of development," he explained. A spokesman for the Indian Exporters of Furniture said they opted to get down furniture from DAMRO, for its quality and constant supply of goods. "Every month we get new furniture from Sri Lanka and we are able to sell because they are good in quality," he said. Damro is expected to open two new branches in more competitive and promising non-Asian countries and expand its market beyond Asia in a bid to make the furniture industry one of the top export earners for this country. |
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