27 July,2021 05:35 PM IST | Mumbai | BrandMedia
Anubhav Gupta
"WE ARE BULLISH ON HIGHER DIAMETER & THICKNESS TUBES"
What started out as a small rolling mill on the outskirts of Delhi has today emerged as the leader in steel structural tubes in India. APL Apollo Tubes, which was set up in 1986, initially found it a challenge to operate in a segment lionized by large and branded players catering to the water and oil & gas segments. It was then that it decided to become a square peg in a round hole. In a market dominated by circular pipes, it decided to break out of the mould to manufacture square and rectangular pipes that had the potential to replace conventional steel construction products like angles and channels and several other building materials like wood, RCC, aluminum and PEB.
Our main focus is structural steel tubes, which are otherwise known as hollow steel sections (HSS). If we consider the evolution of this particular segment, before the year 2000, the main application for steel tubes was in water transportation and oil & gas. At that juncture, all steel pipes being circular in shape were thus ideal for carrying water and oil & gas, apart from having industrial applications.
We have a typical B2C franchise model as is followed in the paints, tiles, plywood or cement industries. We are present at the top as a brand/manufacturer and sell our goods to around 800 distributors, pan-India, who in turn sell to 50,000 retailers. These retailers sell to 200,000 fabricators. Beneath the fabricators lie the end-customers, who can be an individual house owner, a real estate developer, a contractor or an engineer. Many of these distributors are exclusive to APL Apollo while others are multi-brand.
Around 5% of our volumes go out as exports. But that is not a very strong focus area, because, one, for us, domestic demand is strong, and two, we can also sell at out price. We get a brand premium. At the same time, we will focus on value-added products for the export markets.
