Ahmedabad based Spinning King (India) Limited (Kashiwala Group of Companies) has been providing dedicated services to the Indian textile Industry. It started its operations in the year 1975 as a consultant to textile industry by providing total services for textile projects, pre-feasibility studies, project reports and market survey. Today, Spinning King India Limited & its veteran promoters are exclusively providing services & working for value added textiles for the Indian textiles industry. In a move to expand further, the company has set-up a fabrics weaving plant titled Weavecoats LLP in Ahmedabad. In an interview with Apparel Views Editor Arvind Kumar, Khagen Kashiwala who is the Managing Director of Spinning King (India) Limited and also looking after Speciality Weavecoats LLP, speaks about the company’s recent venture and its further plans for the world market.
Please tell us more about your company, especially the newly added weaving facility?
We, Spinning King (India) Limited are indulged into TANBOOCEL- Jigao Bamboo Fibre in Indian market since 2003, we are the pioneer in market for the same. Now our new inception is Speciality Weavecoats LLP, at Dhamatvan, Ahmedabad – a fabric weaving plant. Presently we are selling almost 80 per cent in India and remaining 20 per cent will go in exports. Gradually, we want to cater to more export market. Besides, we are getting Fabric from Southern India mills by supplying basic raw material i.e. yarn for last 12-13 years. We are running almost 70-80 looms there with our current capacity of around 6-7 lakh mtr every month. Apart from bamboo, we also import PVA fibre, milk fibre, soya fibre, flex fibre, Ramie, etc under Spinning King (India) Limited.
What is in trend these days?
These days export & corporate market is looking for sustainable, eco-friendly; green products hence demand for our Tanboocel – Jigao Bamboo Fibre has increased. There are many new value added fibres, yarns are used in fabrics now. Apart from regular products i.e. Cotton, polyester & viscose (with blends), the value addition in all stages have taken place. In all new fabrics; bamboo with different blends are more in demand. Bamboo is naturally antibacterial, very smooth, odourless (due to anti-bacterial property) breathable fibre with a very high shelf life, so as fabrics too.
Geo textiles, technical textiles, medical textiles are also fast growing segments. There are many applications of Plasma technology, supercritical carbon dioxide, ultrasonic waves, electrochemical dyeing, microwave dyeing, organic & natural dyes of textiles are some of the revolutionary ways to advance the textile wet processing.
In fabric, we are doing 100 per cent cotton, cotton/polyester, bamboo/cotton, bamboo/polyester, 100 per cent Tencel, and many other blends. Currently cotton with polyester is in trend which is called CVC locally and in good demand in the US, European, Canadian, Australian, which is comparatively cheaper than cotton and mostly used for making Bed Sets.
What kind of demand is there for bamboo fabrics?
Tanboocel Bamboo fibres blends with cotton/ organic cotton/ linen/ polyester and are used in terry towel, socks, knitting, weaving & home furnishing products in bulk. Initially bamboo was used in knitting, now it has started being used in woven for garments. The maximum consumption this year was by the knitting industry, especially in innerwear segment. This was followed by home textiles segment which is the other main area consuming in bulk. The maximum end products by spinners are exported overseas when compared to domestic market. Indian domestic market is not much into bamboo products. Definitely the demand will increase in India in near future as there is huge scope.
Every year bamboo fibre’s consumption is growing at 10-15 per cent. Compared to conventional cotton which is a regular product, it is more in demand for value added products. It has anti-bacterial properties so its demand is increasing among buyers who are more health conscious. In India, it has become a premium product, but in US it is used as normal fibre.
From which segment are you getting more demand?
We are getting more orders from export segment when compared to domestic. There are a lot of domestic brands that are using bamboo yarn for their own brands. Definitely the demand will increase in India in near future, as there is a huge scope.
Do you have any plan to get into value added fabric segment?
Right now we don’t have anything planned in this regard for 2017. Currently, our focus is on setting up our unit for producing grey fabric. But next year we may think about starting denim, bottom wear line and also in house processing and dyeing.
How was 2016 for you in terms of business?
2016 was very good for Indian textile industry. Especially for the exporters it was very good. Though due to demonetization domestic players get affected but for exporters it was very good. 2017 will be little low comparatively to 2016. Last year was exception because of election in US so there was huge demand coming from that market. As a company we are looking at growth of around 5 per cent this year. Right now we are catering to exporters and domestic players but in future we plan to directly export also. Markets like Latin America, Middle East, Far East will be there in our focus. We don’t have huge capacities, so are targeting value added customers.
When you look at exports market what do you think is more in demand, finished or grey fabrics?
Mostly finished fabrics are widely demanded. But ofcourse grey fabric is also exported to markets like Turkey, Latin America, where they have their own processing units. But finished fabric is widely accepted because for making a garment they just have to cut and sew.
What kind of fabric trend do you see in future?
Cotton is always a preferred fibre, even with viscose, bamboo, polyester but it depends on market-to-market. In India climatic conditions don’t support polyester much but in USA, Canada people mostly buy polyester cotton. The growth which you’ll find abroad i.e. exports will be little more than local because of environment. You can’t sell much of woolen fabric in entire India but can sell cotton fabric all over India.
What are your plans for Speciality Weavecoats LLP in next three years?
Here we are going to produce basically grey fabrics for which we have installed 24 Picanol Summum looms which produces appx. 4-5 mn mtrs per annum. Our next phase of production will come by the end of next year when we will install another 24 looms by which our production will be double to 9-10 mn mtr per annum. After the next phase loom expansion we are planning to start our own brand, which will produce some specialised fabrics. In next three years we are targeting to start producing in-house products (apparel / madeups) as well.
Consumption wise, where does India stands when it comes to Bamboo fibre?
Out of our total production, seventy per cent of bamboo fibre is consumed by China domestic market and rest 30 per cent is exported. In overseas, Turkey and India are our biggest markets having 50 per cent share each in our fibre exported. Otherwise, India and China are almost parallel when it comes to bamboo fibre’s consumption globally. Percentage wise, may be China has little more share but India is the second largest consumer of bamboo fibre. We are associated with Bamboo fibre since 2003. Price wise and practicality wise, bamboo is cheaper and feasible when compared to other special fabrics available in the market. Bamboo is a faster growing plant, so uniformity is more in bamboo compared to others along with better hand feel.
All over India, which area do you feel is more conducive to business and growing?
In textiles, fabric has a multiple uses as it is consumed in both garment and home textile segments. We will be more interested in garments where consumption of fabric is more. We are also in process of developing bamboo with copper infused yarn. For this we will be taking some trials of this yarn as presently only one or two companies in this world are making it. The yarn itself is around Rs. 3,000 per kg and is applicable in home textiles. Already one company in US is making mattress by using this yarn, which is very good for the skin.
What according to you is going to be the impact of govt.’s recent decisions?
Govt. is working on betterment of the industry. The decisions taken in last one year and subsidies given will benefit the industry. Agriculture and textiles are the major employment generation sector in India so the govt. will definitely help in boosting the same. The recent implementation of GST and demonetization will definitely be beneficial for all.
After demonetisation people are expecting their businesses to grow, though it may take some time but will definitely boost their growth. As far as GST is concerned, there is no impact on our products. Initially there were no taxes on fabrics but now it’s there. So, additional paper work, documentation has to be done, so that hassle has increased. However, technically the cost has been reduced by 4-5 per cent.
What are your expectations from them for further strengthening of this industry?
Nowadays, Indian exports become expensive due to import duty imposed by the other countries. So India has to focus more on value added products, packing & services along with consistent quality. Competition from neighbouring countries will be always in the business; to overcome the same we should develop new technology, new concepts, and new ideas to boost business.
For further strengthening of this industry, we expect the govt. should do more bilateral agreements with the countries for growth in exports; Increase the exports’ incentives; Hold seminars to promote textile production, Collect the reviews quarterly directly from the exporters & manufacturers.
How do you look at 2018-19 for Indian textile industry?
Textile industry plays vital role in boosting the economy of the nation. It is the second largest industry that contributes approximately 5 per cent to India’s GDP, and 13-14 per cent to overall Index of industrial production. The Indian textile industry has the potential to reach $500 bn in size. The growth implies domestic sales to rise to $315 bn from current $68 bn. At the same time, exports are implied to increase to $185 bn from approximately $41 bn currently. The Indian textiles industry, currently estimated at around $108 bn, is expected to reach $223 bn by 2021.With many new textile parks and schemes from the present Govt. I am sure the industry will grow many fold. Besides, we have already seen many expansions happening in spinning and weaving segment. Many new projects are in pipeline, which will be launched soon. We are targeting to sell more in India in coming years.
