Orient Bell Ltd

Orient Bell Ltd (Formerly known Orient Ceramics & Industries Ltd) was incorporated on 18 May 1977 and is presently engaged into the manufacturing, trading and selling of ceramic and floor tiles. It was promoted by K C Kejriwal in collaboration with AGRDB, Germany, to manufacture ceramic tiles. The erstwhile collaborators and the Indian promoters were unable to produce any saleable tiles. The company was then taken over by Somany-Pilkingtons in 1981 under the rehabilitation package from IFCI and has since repaid all its dues under the deal. Somany-Pilkingtons sold off its holdings in 1993 and Mahendra K Daga has since been at the helm of affairs. In 1998-99, the company introduced India's largest wall tiles, measuring 400mm x 300mm. A new mono-firing unit was commissioned during 2000-2001.By commissioning this unit the total installed capacity of Ceramic Tiles rose upto 95000 TPA.The company issued fully paid Bonus Shares of Rs.2.34 crores in September 2000. The company's diversification plan includes trading of other building products,like sanitary wares,bathroom fittings and designer tiles. During the year 2005-06, the installed capacity was raised by 20,000 M.T. to 120,000 M.T. and the production was 120,883 M.T. The new high end product line of 'ORVIT' tiles was introduced commercially in 2008. Orient Ceramics acquired a majority stake in Bell Ceramics in December 2010 for a total enterprise valuation of around Rs 115 Crore. Orient Ceramics held 68.31% in Bell, including shares acquired through Public Offer. On 30th March, 2012, both companies merged to form Orient Bell Limited. The shareholders of Bell Ceramics Limited were allotted one share of Orient Bell Limited for every four shares of Bell Ceramics Limited. i.e., 1:4. The amalgamation of Bell Ceramics Limited, which was acquired and made subsidiary by Company in 2010-11 was implemented and effective on 30.03.2012. And as a result, the name was renamed as Orient Bell Limited with effect from 15.03.2012. The Company launched India's first online tile market for builders, architects, interior designers and tile retailers/sellers in 2013. Further, it launched Orient International, which is engaged in the import of luxury and high-end tiles from Spain, Italy and Turkey; launched digitally printed tiles under Brand 'Orient' in 2013. The Company's new Tile Manufacturing line at Sikandrabad (U.P.) Plant was made operational in FY 2018-19. In Q2 FY18-19, it launched ~400 new SKUs; Fusion series, New Horizons & Third Fire were launched; to improve product display, 47 new Orient Bell Tiles Boutiques (OBTBs) were also added during FY 2018-19 in high population density towns. The Company increased the network by adding 365 new channel partners apart from continuing investments for adding/refreshing displays - net 55 new Orientbell Tile Boutiques (OBTB) were added during FY 2022. The modernization work of the MP-1 wall plant at Sikandrabad (U.P.) was completed during the 3rd quarter of the financial year 2021-22, which added 0.7 MSM to the installed capacity. It added net 67 OBTBs (display showrooms) in FY 2023. Read More