Indian firm Indo Count expects demand for home textiles to increase

"Our growth during the year was propelled by higher demand for home textile products and consequent increase in our market share globally. Furthermore, our persistent focus on expanding our current capacity, growing our branded portfolio, enhancing our domestic presence, improving e-commerce and building and creating a sustainable value chain have helped us thrive and be future ready," said ICIL executive chairman Anil Kumar Jain in a media release.

Speaking about home textile sector outlook in an exclusive interview with Zee Business managing editor Anil Singhvi, ICIL executive director and CEO Kailash Lalpuria said, "Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Indo Count Industries is expecting the demand for home textile products to increase for the company." He added that a robust supply chain will also serve well for the company.

In Q4 FY21 ending March 31, ICIL's sales volume saw significant growth of 68 per cent year-on-year. According to Lalpuria, the strong results were on account of various factors, with the teamwork being the most important of them under the current circumstances. He added that ICIL has been exporting for more than three decades now and its organisational culture also suits the home textiles segment.

For ICIL, the biggest market is the US, which accounts for 75 per cent of its sales. "The demand has been significant in that market during the pandemic," Lalpuria told Singhvi.

To drive its next leg of growth, ICIL is planning capital expenditure of ₹200 crore, which will be used for brownfield expansion and modernisation of spinning capacity. This investment will be funded by a mix of internal accruals and debt and is expected to be operational in H2 FY22. It will increase the company's revenue by ₹600 crore over the next two years, post commissioning, ICIL said.

The company plans to expand its bed linen capacity by ~ 20 per cent from existing annual capacity of 90 million metres to 108 million metres by debottlenecking and balancing facilities. It also plans brownfield investment for adding commensurate cut & sew facilities and for enhancing the capacity for Top of the Bed (TOB) products.

Also on cards is modernisation of spinning units with compact spinning technology, entailing a capex of ₹50 crore. Post modernisation, this capacity will also be used for captive consumption in the home textiles unit, the company said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RKS)