Hyundai L&C

Pioneering a New Export Market After North America

Hyundai L&C, a comprehensive building-materials company, is making an aggressive push into the Indian market. The strategy is to diversify overseas operations that have been concentrated in North America, including the United States and Canada, and to expand its influence in India's rapidly growing interior market.

According to Hyundai Department Store Group, last year Hyundai L&C supplied its Interior Stone (engineered stone/artificial marble) to a total of seven airport projects, including 'Jewar International Airport'—being built in Uttar Pradesh as Asia's largest airport—'Guwahati International Airport' in Assam, and 'Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport' in Kolkata. Hyundai L&C's Interior Stone is used mainly for columns, walls, and interior flooring. The company is also preparing bids for construction at another 12 airports.

Having won a string of major airport bids, Hyundai L&C's export volume to India has grown at an average annual rate of 20% since 2021. This is the steepest sales growth among all of Hyundai L&C's export regions. India's share of the company's total overseas business has also more than doubled, rising from 6% in 2020 to 15% last year. The secret to Hyundai L&C's successful entry into the Indian market lies in its focus on the 'Made in Korea' premium. Ninety percent of the products delivered to its Indian subsidiary are supplied from the company's Sejong plant at headquarters.

The local sales network, which the company has steadily expanded since its Indian subsidiary was first established in 2020, has also served as a foundation for growth. From the outset, the company built partnerships with distributors that hold numerous local hub warehouses and partner firms across India. Merino, a distributor and one of Hyundai L&C's key local partners, operates some 2,000 directly managed dealerships in India.

This year, the range of products exported to India will expand significantly. Whereas previous exports consisted of just two categories—Interior Stone used as interior and exterior finishing materials, and rigid film used for packaging pharmaceuticals—starting this year the company will additionally supply five interior finishing products and one exterior finishing product. Beyond interior films and deco films applied to furniture and walls, and PET tiles and vinyl tiles used as flooring in residential and commercial spaces, the company also plans to supply waterproofing sheets (TPO) applied to exterior surfaces such as building rooftops.

▲ Hyundai L&C is diversifying its overseas business and expanding its influence in the rapidly growing Indian interior market.