MUMBAI: FieldTurf Tarkett, a world leader in sports surfaces, which has been given the mandate to lay a Rs 50 million artificial grass football ground at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata, expects to achieve a 30 to 40 per cent increase in turnover this fiscal.

Speaking about the company FieldTurf Tarkett India manager - marketing & branding Pavan Kumar says, “In 2004, when FieldTurf Tarkett started in India, its next-generation artificial grass was introduced for the first time. As our tag line says, it "Looks Like Grass…Feels Like Grass and Plays Like Grass". This is dramatically different from the age-old turf used for Hockey fields. There is no need of expensive watering and it is virtually maintenance-free.

“In late 2005 we installed SAARC region's first artificial grass football field for Chowgule College. And this world-class field is regularly used by the top clubs like Dempo, Salgaocar, Vasco, and also the Indian national team and Indian Junior teams for coaching camps. Currently we are also installing  a football ground at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata.”
 
India has poor record in sports sports infrastructure
On being asked about the sports infrastructure solutions business in India, Pavan says that India has a very poor record in sports infrastructure, “Sports Infra in India is obviously way behind most countries when seen from any perspective - absolute numbers or per capita. Historically, it has not been a priority for the government, understandably, and the only investments come when India hosts an International tournament.”

He further adds that, “What compounds the problem is that once such events are over, they are hardly maintained in top condition. With FieldTurf Tarkett’s range of sports surfaces, we aim to provide solutions that are not only world-class, but more importantly, virtually maintenance-free. The honorable exceptions are facilities for Cricket. And of course those provided by some elite clubs, top schools and other private entities.”

FieldTurf India’s product portfolio covers almost every sport, Indoors and Outdoors. They almost have a dozen varieties of this next-generation artificial grass, each tailored to suit specific sport covering Football, Golf, Hockey, Cricket and most grass-based sports.

The rest of the range includes PVC and Wood sports flooring for every Indoor Sport (Basketball, Badminton, Volleyball and so on), Synthetic Athletic Tracks from amateur level to IAAF standards. They also have suitable varieties for landscaping use (Homes, Schools, Clubs, Restaurants, Offices etc), where they cannot grow or maintain natural grass.