Ras Al Khaimah, 14 October 2015

RAK Ceramics P.S.C. (Ticker: RAKCEC: Abu Dhabi), a global hi-tech manufacturer of lifestyle ceramics solutions, today announced that it acquired the remaining 8% minority share of its subsidiary RAK India and therefore now fully owns its Indian operations.

RAK Ceramics setup operations in India in 2006 to capitalise on rising demand, growing construction projects, high urbanisation rates and government direction towards sanitisation. RAK Ceramics has 3 production lines in India, with a current capacity of 8 million sqm of tiles.

The announcement follows RAK Ceramics’ recent acquisition of 100% of its Iranian operations, a move that confirms the company’s long-term view to strengthen operations in core markets of the UAE, Bangladesh and India.

In 2014, RAK India operations contributed 16% of total tiles sales volume and 13% of sanitaryware. Building on these results, RAK Ceramics announced recent capacity expansions in India by 52% for sanitaryware to reach 1.1 million pieces by 2016.

Abdallah Massaad, CEO of RAK Ceramics said: “India is a strong market with great potential for us. It is among the fastest growing markets in the world and has witnessed a dramatically renewed optimism for its economic prospects with a rising demand for building materials and construction projects; a very promising sign for RAK Ceramics. The recent acquisition of the remaining 8% of our Indian operation reaffirms our commitment to strengthening core business interests in line with our Value Creation Plan. Our Value Creation Plan was initiated in 2014 and is designed to unlock hidden value and increases market share in our core markets.”

RAK Ceramics aspires to be a top industry player in India, which is the third largest tiles market in the world, and according to Technavio's report, “Ceramic Tiles Market in India 2015-2019”, demand for tiles is expected to grow at CAGR of 8.7% for 2014–2019 from an annual consumption of 756 million sqm of tiles.

RAK India is one of 15 plants owned and operated by RAK Ceramics globally; the remaining include one in Bangladesh, one in Iran and 12 in the UAE.