With Bangladesh diversifying into new product categories, suiting seems to be a major thrust with many of the big companies like Ananta, Standard Group, New Age Group, East West Group, FCI Group, Univogue, to name a few. In the quest to find fabric resources for this product category Apparel Online explores Bhilwara in the western part of India which is considered the biggest hub for polyester viscose fabric in the world. Many players in the region are looking for new export options…
Approximately 520 km from the national capital Delhi and 240 km from Jaipur, Bhilwara today is the biggest PV (Polyester Viscose) dyed blended suiting manufacturing hub in the world. Sixty per cent of suiting material produced in the country is being manufactured in this town and supplied all over India. Seventy per cent of the total viscose dyed yarn in India is being manufactured in Rajasthan, which includes Bhilwara, Banswara, Dungarpur and Gulabpura that helps Bhilwara fabric manufacturers to offer very competitive prices both in the domestic and international markets. Currently there are over 500 units running in the vicinity having about 12,500 looms and a number of process houses which are manufacturing close to 5 crore metres of suiting fabric every month.
The thrust and momentum to the industrial development of the district, which ultimately puts Bhilwara’s name on the world map came with the foundation of the LNJ Group by Laxmi Niwas Jhunjhunwala, who put up the first spinning unit in the town. And since then Bhilwara has emerged as one of the most important and largest textile centres of the country in PV suiting. “Testimonial to the vibrancy of the region is evident from the fact that the US $ 1000 million LNJ group, which is still firmly rooted in Bhilwara with BSL and RSWM, proudly celebrated its Golden Jubilee last year,” informs Arun Churiwal, Chairman & Managing Director, BSL Ltd.
Growing at a steady pace, it was after the multi-fibre agreement in 2005 that Bhilwara saw major growth as a PV fabric manufacturing hub, housing around 350 weaving units. Right from fibre, yarn, weaving and processing, the city is well equipped and there is never dearth of business as still 95% of the total production is of very basic suiting fabric ranging between Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 per metre, which is in demand the year around.
Today, there are about 10 major players in the centre with turnovers crossing Rs. 500 crore including companies like LNJ group (BSL, RSWM), Kanchan Group, Sangam (India) Ltd., Suzki, Goodwill, Anant Syntex, TPL Industries, Sharda Spintex, to name a few. Another 100 companies have turnovers above Rs. 50 crore and the rest are small units. Out of 350 weaving companies in Bhilwara, there are around 30-40 companies which are into exports, constantly looking at new markets and buyers from countries like Afghanistan, Dubai, Latin America who keep visiting the hub.
Mumbai-based company Galundia Textiles Pvt. Ltd. started off as traders for corporates like Raymond, BSL, Mayur and Digjam and today has a unit in Bhilwara working with projectile sulzer looms from Switzerland to manufacture 100% polyester and PV blended fabric for suiting, in Bhilwara. The company is mainly catering to the buyers in Latin American market and Europe. The company’s FOBs for Latin America lies anywhere between US $ 2.25 to US $ 2.75 per metre. Sudeep Galundia, Managing Director, Galundia Textiles claims it to be a strategy that has helped them gain huge turnovers with low margins. The company’s current manufacturing capacity is 4,00,000 metres per month, while all other basic qualities are being outsourced from Bhilwara.
Besides strength in spinning and weaving, the town also boasts of around 19 process houses with latest processing technology like automatic jigger, cold pad batch machine, calendaring machine, latest singeing machines, jet dyeing and beam machines, and Kier die-casting and super finish machines giving finishes like Teflon, chiller, enzyme, perfume and even fire retardant finishes. These 19 process houses process around 50 million metres of fabric per month with a requirement of 1-1.5 million lakh litres of water every day which is made available through environment-friendly water treatment plants.
A few modern process houses are Sangam Processors, Bhilwara Processors, TPL Industries, Ananat Synthetics, Janki Processors, Pooja Spintex, Ranjan Processors, Sona Processors, Chamunda, Rolex, BTM, Ronak, Suzki Synthetics to mention the prominent ones. “India is considered a leader in yarn dyed PV fabrics, and suppose a buyer wants 1,00,000 metre yarn dyed PV fabric single shade, we can provide it in one lot without colour variation,” states S.N. Modani, Managing Director, Sangam (India) Limited, already clocking over Rs. 1200 crore turnover in the first 9 months of the FY 2012-13 and exporting PV fabrics to 30 countries.
Product & Market
Yarn and fabric for suiting is the identity of Bhilwara. Poly Viscose (PV) takes 80 per cent share of the production whereas Poly Cotton (PC) and Poly Wool (PW) production accounts for the remaining 20 per cent. Though the range includes different counts and quality, the innovation is with only a few companies. The range available in fabrics for bottoms, from coarser to finer thread counts include – 2/18s, 2/30s, 2/40s, 2/50s and 2/60s, the hub is also making 2/80s and 2/100s for shirting. “In the overseas market, stripes, self design, checks, normal twill and plains are more in demand in staple colours like greys, blue, charcoal and olive green,” says S.L. Panagaria, Managing Director, Subh Laxmi Syntex Ltd., whose company has an annual turnover of US $ 10 million catering to both the domestic and international markets.
Approximately 20 per cent of the PV fabric is being exported directly out of the hub mainly to Middle East countries, however a few players are also exporting to the US, Europe, Vietnam, Syria, Jordan and Tunisia. It is mostly those companies that have invested in R&D for design, weaving and finishing that are exporting to the US and European markets, while others are mainly working with the Middle East. Though the average cost of per metre piece is between US $ 1.50-1.75, R&D-driven companies like BSL and Sangam are selling at a minimum cost of US $ 2.15 per metre.
Completely dependent on local resources, not even a single PV manufacturer in Bhilwara is using imported fibres. In dyed PV yarn LNJ Group is one of the biggest suppliers, followed by Sangam, SRS, Birla Group, Banswara Syntex and Asian Tex to name a few, who are feeding the hub with their PV fibres and yarns. The PV manufacturers in Bhilwara shared that a lot of orders which were earlier catered by China are pouring into Bhilwara and they are confident that they can beat China in PV fabric as they are equipped to do small lots which is the USP of India and the current pattern of demand in the international market.
Reliance, India’s largest producer of polyester fibre and filaments, realized the potential of this market and has taken the lead and initiative to develop new world class specialty products for spinning and weaving that add more value to the ultimate fabric and garment in terms of its look, feel, drape, dye-tone, etc. Some select manufacturers in Bhilwara are also giving different finishes to the PV Fabric right from worsted to TR finish (smooth and glossy finish), Tefflon treatment (fabric doesn’t get wet in snow and also while drizzling), antibacterial and anti-odour treatments.
