Crabtree, Frattini join hands for bath-fittings

Mumbai: Crabtree Aquatech Ltd, a joint venture between Fratelli-Frattini, the giant bath-fittings manufacturer from Italy, and the Rs 600-crore Havell's group have announced the launch of the Crabtree-Frattini range of bath-fittings focusing on a large variety of Italian designer faucets in a range of styles.

Crabtree-Frattini's first-year sales projections are pegged at a confident, but modest, Rs 30 crore, which grows phenomenally by year three to absolute market leadership at Rs 150 crore. Crabtree-Frattini has set up a state-of-the-art and scalable factory at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, where it will manufacture the most popular ranges of faucets and bath-fittings with constant updates from Frattini of Italy.

Says Crabtree Aquatech managing director Dinesh Gupta: "The value-proposition in Crabtree-Frattini is in offering Italian design, technology and quality at Indian prices, because of the economies effected through our joint venture. We offer the Indian consumer the latest designs and technology year after year from the best in the world."

For the Havell's group, he adds, "we see this as a winning formula, borne out by the earlier introduction of the extremely successful range of UK-designed Crabtree switches, also constantly updated, to faucets from Frattini of Italy now. We expect to continue with similar and related brand extensions in the future also."

Crabtree-Frattini expects to fill a prominent vacuum in the market for top-end offerings within the approximately Rs 500-crore bath fittings business in the organised sector. "The Crabtree-Frattini faucets count many features introduced for the very first time in India, including ways to work with our salt- and mineral-laden water supply, working at very low water pressures too," says Gupta.

One very useful feature in the Crabtree-Frattini faucets, for example, particularly when it comes to usage by children, is that they can be programmed to automatically mix hot and cold flows to avoid accidental scalding.

Also, the 'Economix' cartridge, used in Crabtree-Frattini faucets, is ultrasound-welded, minimising chances of water leakage, and this is a global first in innovation from Frattini. The cartridge disc is designed to float in oil so that it does not come into contact with the water flowing through the faucet. This ensures its smooth functioning, unhampered by the mineral and salt deposits in the water supply or any encrustation in the faucet.

Fratelli-Frattini is one of the largest manufacturers of bath fittings in Italy, with extensive manufacturing and design facilities and worldwide operations.