Just like Spandex stretches and adapts to every move, Indorama Corporation has also grown and expanded over the past 50 years, building its strength in the textiles and apparel industry as well as in Fertilisers, Polymers, Rubber Gloves and Metals.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Indorama invited Apparel Resources to visit the company’s Baddi plant in Himachal Pradesh. The facility, one of only two spandex producers in India and a pioneer in the segment, has a total design capacity of 21,000 MT of spandex yarn per year. Most of this yarn serves domestic customers such as spun yarn producers, knitters and texturisers, while a portion goes to non-textile applications like diapers and elastic straps.
The plant uses continuous polymerisation and dry-spun technology to produce Spandex yarns. The facility is equipped with high-tech winding technology and places strong emphasis on quality. During our visit, we were excited to see their exhaustive labs. In addition, they showed us the application development machinery, simulating exactly what the customer uses the spandex for. To ensure the yarn performs well in real-world conditions, it is tested on various machines such as covering, winding, beaming, socks knitting, DTY, circular knitting (CK), assembly winding, two-for-one twisting, washing machines, tumble dryers, stenters and HTHP beaker dyeing machines.
The Spandex business is led by Udaya Kumar, CEO and Shalendra Vasudeva, CMO, with Nilesh Sevak managing domestic sales and Vijay Vashishth overseeing exports and business development.
Beyond Spandex, Indorama’s textile segment spans polyester, cotton, spun yarns and spandex. Its products include polyester staple fibres (PSF), hollow conjugate fibres (HCF), polyester filament yarns (POY/FDY), draw texturised yarn (DTY), cotton and blended spun yarns, amongst others. It has become the 10th largest producer of fertilisers in the world already and is growing faster.
During our plant visit, we met Venkatesh Gopalan, Group Director, Textile and Corporate Development, Indorama Corporation, who shared the company’s growth journey and future strategy. He spoke about the challenges of producing Spandex raw materials locally, the need to build demand for sustainable products, the rise of segments like athleisure and Indorama’s plans going forward.
Here are the edited excerpts.
AR: Congratulations on completing 50 years! Looking back, what five milestones would you say truly defined the company’s growth in the textile and apparel business?
Venkatesh Gopalan: Thank you and I really appreciate it. To sum up our 50-year journey in textiles in just five points would be unfair, but I’ll still try to share five key moments. I would start with 1975, when ML Lohia and our current Chairman SP Lohia, set up the first spinning plant in Purwakarta, Indonesia, which marked the beginning of our yarn business. Then, we moved into backward integration with polyester in 1991 that got expanded subsequently, along with spun yarn business.
Third was setting up of a textile spinning plant in Turkey in 1998 followed by the commencement of spun yarn production unit in Uzbekistan in 2011. And the fifth would be the start of spandex production in India in 2012. In addition to these, we also invested in mechanised cotton cultivation in Uzbekistan, growing cotton fibre in more than 30,000 hectares of farmland.
AR: What’s your outlook for the Spandex market in India? Are there specific segments you see driving the strongest growth in the coming years?
Venkatesh Gopalan: The Spandex market in India is about 52,000 tonnes and is growing at roughly 10% to 12% a year. It’s a small base, so this growth as a percentage is normal. One application segment we see really taking off is circular knitting, especially in places like Surat and Silvassa. We were talking to a lot of customers recently at our Indorama50 celebrations and they shared how fast this segment is expanding. Another area where we expect strong growth is the ACY (Air Covered Yarn) segment. ACY is made by wrapping polyester with Spandex yarn. It’s actively used in leggings, sportswear, tapes and swimwear. Spandex in diapers is also expected to grow faster in view of the consumption boom in India.
AR: You rely so much on imported raw materials for spandex, then why aren’t you producing them locally or is this something you’re working towards?
Venkatesh Gopalan: The key raw materials for Spandex are PTMEG (Polytetramethylene Ether Glycol) and MDI (Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate) and producing them cost efficiently requires a connected supply chain.
In India, there are only two Spandex producers. One has its own PTMEG supply, while we depend on imports. Producing these raw materials requires roughly 50,000 to 75,000 tonnes per year of minimum capacity of PTMEG and even if we combine our production capacity with that of our competitor, it would still not be enough to meet this scale.
Also, China produces a large volume of BDO (1,4-Butanediol), the raw material for PTMEG, which makes PTMEG production cost-effective there. BDO is used not only for Spandex but also in PBAT, polyesters, polyurethanes and solvents. With these multiple uses, China has invested heavily in BDO, reaching around 3 million tonnes of production in 2024.
Exporting PTMEG from India is currently not feasible, as China’s scale and efficiency make it difficult for Indian producers to compete on cost. Right now, India’s supply chain for these materials isn’t fully developed yet, but once the volumes grow and ecosystem is ready, we’ll definitely explore producing them locally.
| “The key factor in business is demand pull, not just supply push. You need to create products that attract customers so they will want to buy them. Applications must be identified and products should cater through adjustment of properties. Once the first customer clicks, others will follow and it can take off on fast-track.” |
AR: Athleisure is growing rapidly in India. How can you tap into this demand through innovation in fabrics and products?
Venkatesh Gopalan: Recently, one of my sales colleagues was telling me that China is a leader in polyester that looks like cotton, called Cotlook, along with good moisture management capabilities. The material is gaining popularity and India also produces it. What’s interesting is that Cotlook combines the look and feel of cotton with the functional benefits of polyester. Its filaments are designed to wick moisture away from the skin and dry quickly, keeping the wearer comfortable during physical activity. The filament structure and surface treatments make moisture migrate through the fabric efficiently, so it feels dry and breathable.
I thought that was brilliant and that’s exactly what I’ve been saying. The focus should be on exploring how polyester and spandex can work together to create exciting new applications. People should start working on this. We have an energetic creative team in Spandex business and maybe jointly can participate to develop many joint projects, with viscose and polyester.
AR: Sustainability often comes at a cost. Can demand for eco-friendly products like ECOModa100™ be built without reducing the cost and do you see them ever competing on price with regular Spandex?
Venkatesh Gopalan: It’s true that sustainable products usually cost more, but that doesn’t mean demand for them will be limited. Such products give a lot of value to customers. For instance, ECOModa100™ is made from 100% recycled Spandex waste and can be combined with other sustainable fibres. It fits well, is comfortable and comes with certifications like RCS100 and EU REACH. It also has about 83% lower global warming impact compared to regular Spandex.
Therefore, adoption isn’t really about price, it’s about creating demand. If brands push for sustainable Spandex, it will catch on. Spandex is only 2-3% of the yarn, so the extra cost is small.
Right now, our focus is on talking to brands and companies that are open to sustainable products. Our team — Vijay, Shalendra and Udaya — is concentrating on this effort, bringing the right brands on board.
We’re also working on Bio spandex which simply means that its main raw materials are made from natural or plant-based sources instead of petrochemicals.
On the group side, significant strides have been taken for aligning our growth strategy with the demands concerning global climate change. We have rolled out a comprehensive decarbonisation plan. It sets us on a course to achieve a 20% reduction in scope 1 and 2 absolute GHG emissions and 29% decline in intensity by 2028. Our group anticipates a strategic investment of US $ 130 million to ensure this transition. We have embarked on a detailed climate risk assessment in alignment with international guidelines and standards.
| “We have rolled out a comprehensive decarbonisation plan. It sets us on a course to achieve a 20% reduction in scope 1 and 2 absolute GHG emissions and 29% decline in intensity by 2028. Our group anticipates a strategic investment of US $ 130 million to ensure this transition.” |
AR: You’ve made investments across Asia, Africa and Europe. From that experience, what three steps could make India more trade and investor-friendly?
Venkatesh Gopalan: First, the focus must be on quality consistency. We need an ‘India brand’ that delivers reliable products, similar to how Japan is known for excellence. Secondly, delivery must be on time, with no excuses or flimsy stories. The third challenge is price. When we compete internationally, especially with China, it’s tough because they have huge volumes, sometimes 20 times ours, along with a great supply chain. That gives them a huge cost advantage. We must import raw materials and produce locally, which makes it harder to match their prices.
AR: Looking ahead, where do you see the most growth opportunities?
Venkatesh Gopalan: As far as the Spandex business in India is concerned, growth will come from better products, differentiated applications and improved processes and quality. Quality is very important, but it must be consistent. We have focused on quality with consistency and achieved the same. The second focus is on differentiated products. Customers want us to add value by offering products that are unique or specialised. Our development team has produced so many products that are in the offing already. This is a continuous process. The third area is capacity, matching with the growth of India. We are seriously evaluating expansion possibilities, which will depend on how India’s domestic consumption grows in the near future. I also strongly believe that the recent reduction in GST rates will help boost demand in the near future, with the much awaited improvement taking place in Indian domestic consumption.
