"We had applied for a 100 per cent subsidiary with plans to set up an assembly unit with an investment of Rs 10 crore in April. It has been deferred and we hope to get the clearance by the end of this calender year," regional general manager, South Asia, Swatch group, Singapore, Ravi Thakran said.

The assembly unit in the country, which is still in the drawing board stage, would be mainly for assembling components such as leather straps, buckles, display counters and packing material, diamonds, among others both for Indian and overseas market, he said. Swatch, which has brands such as Omega, Longines, Tissot among others, entered India in 1997 following the latest exim policy guidelines which allowed import of premium watches without licence.

The Swiss grouphad recently shown keen interest in launching a hybrid car in the Indian market with plans to manufacture it locally in collaboration with a US-based firm. When asked about the group's car plans for the country, Thakran said, "talks are on and we would choose either India or Italy for our car project which would be finalised by the end of this year."

The group is also planning to launch a range of low-prices watch brand of watches suited for the Indian market, Thakran said, adding that the assembly unit would be used for that as well. Swatch has long-term plans for the country and has already applied for an investment of Rs 10 crore and would pump in more as the market picks up, he said.

The group also has plans to launch `flik flak' a low-priced range for kids in the Indian market in the near future, he said. The company's Omega brand of watches ranges between Rs 50,000 to 2 lakh, Rado between Rs 20,000 to 1 lakh and Tissot between Rs 5,000 to Rs 4 lakh in the Indian market.

Thakran said building astrong distribution network is very essential and Swatch plans to add at least 40 retail stores nation-wide by the end of this calender year. Swatch is also mulling at the possibility of tying up with Indian brands such as Titan and HMT for synergising their retail outlets, he said.