India’s hospitality sector is heading into a multi-year expansion cycle, and Hindware Limited expects a sharp rise in demand for premium, smart and conservation-driven bath products as hotel companies accelerate both new builds and long-deferred renovations. Nirupam Sahay, CEO – Bath & Tiles, underlined that hotel chains are increasingly prioritising sustainability and intelligent water-saving fixtures, making the category a key growth driver for the company.
After a few quarters of tapered growth for the building material market in the country, industry leaders feel that the market is poised for a promising uptick in the coming quarters of the current fiscal year and into the next financial year. The expectations are largely based on the new infrastructure projects in the institutional segment including the hospitality sector in the country.
Sharing the sentiments in the building material industry in an exclusive one-on-one interaction with HospitalityBiz India, sitting in the relaunched flagship experience centre of Hindware Limited in the premium Lajpat Nagar area of New Delhi, Nirupam Sahay said, “Over the next five years, I think there’s going to be a huge surge in the number of new hotels coming up. All the major hotel brands have announced major expansions. So, we believe that hospitality over the next five years, there is going to be a boom.”
Sahay said that the hotel industry is set for a significant surge, both in new greenfield projects and in renovation activity that was postponed during the pandemic years.
With sustainability now a core part of hotel brand identity, he noted that buying behaviour is visibly shifting toward water-saving, sensor-based and intelligent products. “We have products which help to conserve water, for example, sensor faucets. We also have dual flush toilets. In the smart toilets, basically a lot of water conservation features are built in,” Sahay said.
Hotels, he said, are increasingly seeing these features not only as environmentally responsible but also as a tangible marketing advantage: “Making sustainability a selling point for the hotel chain is also increasing… Really living up to that promise through actual products is now starting to happen.”
He added that the industry’s move toward greener rooms aligns seamlessly with Hindware’s long-standing focus on conservation technologies.
Sharing the key market trends in the bathroom and kitchen space, both in the institutional and retail market, Sahay said that both these markets are shifting from mass market products to mass premium and premium products.
While the market for mass premium and premium products was 30% 5 years ago, now it is close to 50%, Sahay said. Also the demand for these products is not restricted to metro and tier 1 cities any more; tier 2 and 3 cities are also fast catching up with these trends, he observed.
“The market is premiumizing. Even in tier 2 towns now consumers are basically wanting the best features.”
This shift is pushing Hindware to focus new product introductions under its higher-end brands — Hindware Italian Collection and Queo — both of which dominate the newly refurbished Hindware Experience Centre.
Sahay said that experience centres help are designed to give a 360 degree look and feel and functionalities of premium products to both individual customers and architects and interior designers alike.
Hindware will be opening two more Experience Centres – one in Bengaluru and the another one in Hyderabad early next year, Sahay.
On the design front, Sahay expects three broader trends to play out in coming times. The foremost trend will be adoption of smart technology. People will be preferring products embedded with smart technology over conventional products in their bathrooms and kitchens.
There is a clear shift to color from the traditional white. People are going for more coloured products which is propelling manufacturers to launch more colored products, he said showing faucets of various colourful finishes at display at the experience centre.
Design differentiation is another major trend.
“More and more consumers are looking at design. We have launched stone washbasins and are launching glass washbasins now,” he said.
As one of the market leaders, these shifts, he said, are prompting Hindware to stay ahead with innovations across materials, aesthetics and intelligent features.
