Quest International foot prints in Tamilnadu

Hong Kong-based Quest International (QI) has lined up a string of investment proposals for India including a five-star hotel, business class resorts and two watch making units in South India involving a total investment of over 100 million US Dollar, according to a top official.Talking to UNI on the sidelines of Madras Management Association (MMA) Convention here, QI Group MD and CEO Vijay Easwaran said the group had already bought the world renowned Swiss watch brand "Cimier" and would be setting up its assembling unit in Andhra Pradesh, its first unit outside Switzerland.

The group company had approached Andhra Pradesh Government when Mr N Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister to set up the unit at Rishivalley to manufacture "Cimier," the 80-year-old elite brand.Mr Easwaran said the special handicrafted watches priced between 500 USD to 5,000 USD would be made in stages with the company making leather straps and buckles in the first stage.In the subsequent stages, the company would make the cases and dials. Finally, it would work on the machines for which young and talented Indians would be trained on technology and craftsmanship.

"We are looking at this as a five-year programme," he added.The QI Group has plans to set up a unit at Hosur in Tamil Nadu to make "Bernhard H Mayer," a popular German watch brand. "We are planning to re-assemble the plant and commence production in the next five years," he said. The company had already established a joint venture with Titan for the purpose. Mr Easwaran was confident of a growing market for watches, especially handicrafted luxury watches."The watch market has been growing very fast in India of late. We have taken a bold leap forward with Cimier...it will pay off in the long run and we believe in India," he said.The company had already bought a 47-acre site at the tourist destination of Mahabalipuram and proposed to build a five star resort.

"We are also working with another group for developing a township and looking into developing business class hotel projects.Mr Easwaran said the group was also looking into building an Ayurvedic resort and planning to convert an existing Ayurvedic treatment centre in Kerala and develop the same into a luxury resort.The business class hotels were targeted primarily at businessmen and they would be located in second tier cities in Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, besides Mangalore and Cochin.''In all, we will bring in about 100 million USD stage by stage.We have already planned 100 million USD in Sri Lanka and it could be more in India,'' Mr Easwaran said.