US fitness firm plans to set up plant in India
Monday, 13 October 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: US-based fitness equipment major, Life Fitness is exploring the possibility of setting up a manufacturing facility in India for its range of consumer fitness products. Once realised, the facility would be only second for the company outside US. At present the company operates only one manufacturing facility for its consumer products outside the US in Taiwan. The Indian facility is expected to provide further cost advantage to the company for which Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing market. “India is an important market for us. The growing fitness awareness in the country gives us ample opportunity to explore this vast market for out state-of-the-art fitness products. Once critical sales level is reached in the country, we might think converting this market into a subsidiary operation by opening up a manufacturing facility,” Gene Harper, sales and marketing manager, Asia pacific, Life Fitness said. He said that with an eye on expanding their Indian business, the company has launched value for money Life Fitness Sport range of consumer products in India. The next stage would be set up a manufacturing facility for these products, he said. As an initial step, Life Fitness is also planning to source certain components for its fitness equipment from India. We are talking to a few suppliers and a deal might be finalised soon, Harper said. Dubbing India as the third largest market for fitness products in the Apec region, Harper said that the current growth being witnessed in the country may soon take up the country to numero uno position. At present Life Fitness operates through an Indian distributor — Cardio Fitness. There are now plans by the distributor to open exclusive Life Fitness outlets in Bangalore and Mumbai. Deepak Diwan, CMD of Cardio said that number of such outlets would be increased soon.
Source: IANS
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