TCL China graces best dining rooms
Economic Times — February 4, 2003

Tata Ceramics makes specially designed crockery for some of the World’s Best Brands.

What does the President of India dine on when entertaining state guests? Well, for the head of Republic it has to be classical and also reflective of the Republic.

In case you didn’t know, crockery at the Rashtrapati Bhavan dining rooms for state guests are crafted out of exquisite white bone china with elegant navy blue borders circled with an intricate gold leaf design.

And sure enough, the hallowed Ashoka Pillar, with the three lions perched on top, is engraved in gold that stands out against the backdrop of the royal-blue border. The crockery designs are developed in Italy and hand-crafted on each piece in 22K gold with platinum.

And here comes the heart-stopper. Each of these, nay, all Rashtrapati Bhavan crockery is now manufactured by Tata Ceramics Limited! No more does presidential crockery get imported from Rosenthal, the German subsidiary of Wedgewood. Not anymore.

And should you have any doubts whatsoever about desi quality vis-a-vis phoren, suffice to say that TCL also manufactures specially-designed bone china table-top ware for some of the world’s best brands: Wedgewood, Royal Doulton, Churchill....just name it. Wait, unless you are travelling first class British Airways or Air New Zealand or Turkish Airways— for, the crockery they serve their food in on these flights are, once again TCL! Class tells.

No wonder, therefore, the ministry for external affairs placed orders last year on this little known Tata company for supply of crockery to all Indian embassies abroad. Nearly 90% of TCL’s Rs.20 crore turnover is accounted for by its European market alone, although TCL products spread over a large part of Australia, New Zealand and a bit of the United States too! About 80% of TCL bone china is picked up by Wedgewood, which the latter sells in its own brand name.

“Fine bone china is brand driven and the elite are its customers. Price is not relevant. The best brands reflect history and heritage... Wedgewood is after all a 250 year old company,” said Munish Gupta, executive director, TCL.

“We are just an eight-year-old company. Making fine bone china is a combination of art and science and is learnt with experience. To cater to the top end of the market, we benchmark our quality to the best in the world”, Mr. Gupta said.

But despite such formidable credentials in lifestyle products, Bombay house folks are coy talking about TCL, which operates from the Kochi Export Processing Zone. While connoisseurs of bone china table-top wares may have fallen for TCL products, policy makers hardly have. If TCL, a deemed offshore company, were to sell in domestic market, its products would attract an import duty of 58%, plus 16% CVD, plus 4% SAD. But the government has recently allowed import of ceramic products through Bangladesh at 25% of the basic duty.

“While our products find acclaim in international markets, we are fighting the government back home against unfair tariff structures,” Mr. Gupta said.