The company is a role model as a story of corporate success. By dint of its exponential growth, it has spread its wings to being present pan-India as well as in 60 countries across the world
BSL Ltd. needs no introduction in the domain of textile manufacturing. Having excelled for more than a quarter of a century in the industry, it is currently credited with producing over 18 million metres of fabric annually. Steered by Chairman and Managing Director A K Churiwal along with his team of competent directors, BSL today is a market leader and a household name, boasting of an annual turnover to the tune of Rs 450 crore. The inception of BSL was in 1971 in the small town of Bhilwara in Rajasthan, where it is currently headquartered. In those days, the manufacturing of poly-viscose suiting was still a unique concept in India.
Astounding Track Record
The journey so far has been nothing less than prolific. Riding on the exemplary leadership skills, futuristic vision and the belief of the top brass that there are no shortcuts to excellence, the company has moved from strength to strength and currently serves 1,500 MBOs. By dint of its exponential growth, it has spread its wings to being present pan-India as well as in 60 countries across the world. With constant innovation through its products, training, adoption of new technology and reduction of wastage of natural resources by following the acronym GRIP as part of its corporate ethos, the company has achieved great success. “GRIP denotes giving back to society, respect for individual, integrity and passion. All the members of the group uphold these core values in all respects of their work”, says Nivedan Churiwal, Managing Director, BSL Ltd.
“The company strives to continuously invest in technology, research and development with the single objective of being the best in product manufacturing and service. This is followed with the core mantras of ‘people before profits’ and ‘product innovation before prejudice’. In fact, at BSL, these mantras are the guiding forces or the triggers that help us move ahead,” Churiwal added.
Capacity and Expansion
BSL’s weaving capacity is 12-13 lakh metres per month while the processing capacity is around 25 lakh metres per month. On the spinning front as of now, BSL is producing around 120 tonnes per month of vertex yarn and a similar quantity of poly-wool yarn and 300 tonnes of PV yarn. “We are venturing into the manufacturing of cotton yarn with a capex of Rs 70 crore to produce 400 tonnes of cotton yarn per month by the next year,” informs Churiwal. The company is now planning a total capex of Rs 100 crore, which is the largest capex in the history of the company and this will predominantly be for the cotton spinning project. Some spindles are being replaced for the PV spinning project.
“Apart from this, we are also planning a small expansion of 15-20 looms for the furnishing division. Based on this expansion and our overall robust growth plan for all the segments in marketing, we are very confident of a substantial jump in our turnover from Rs 400 crore to Rs 700 crore in the next 3-5 years,” Churiwal informs. As regards product diversification, BSL is getting into the manufacturing of cotton spinning which is a new area that it would like to explore.
In addition, in its furnishing division, the company is already producing a wide range of furnishing fabrics in the form of fabrics for curtains and sofa. This is the first time that BSL is venturing into made-ups for home essentials where the products will be readymade curtains, towels, quilts, bed sheets, etc. BSL is coming up with a new brand for the home made-up division. It will initially showcase the products in the domestic market and later target the e- commerce space as well as the large-format stores.
Product Portfolio
The company’s extensive product range covers wool, wool-blended premium lightweight fabrics to wool modal, Trevira wool and other specialised fabrics blended with Lycra, silk, linen, Tencel, etc. The strong in-house quality assurance team ensures that all these top-of-the-line products are manufactured under the ambit of the necessary accreditations – it is a ISO 9001:2015-certified company for quality regulations, OHSAS 18001: 2007-certified for health and safety compliance and ISO 45001-certified for environmental safety. The target group for the expansive range of suiting is mainly men, aged between 25-55 years, across all states.
The furnishing arm of BSL has earned a feather in its cap through its long- standing association with Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA – it is one of the few distinguished companies in the world to manufacture and sell furnishing fabrics to IKEA and notably the only company in Southeast Asia to enjoy this high-profile business deal.
The exhibition of the group’s products on the digital platform as #lifeisnotreadymade has also met with stupendous response from the market.
The Way Forward
The dynamic BSL has been continuously striving for business development based on heritage, ethics and an unflinching passion to be a leader in the industry. To maintain its growth saga, the company has robust plans to capture growth of 25 per cent on the top-line and 20 per cent on the bottom-line in the near future. Plans are afoot to ramp up the product supply to 6,000 MBOs in the next two years. Consolidation in the states where it has a significant presence as well as focusing its attention to newer domains like East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal is also on the cards. The major impetus for garnering wider outreach is expected to be concentrated through key activities like product innovation, new product launches, brand building and other promotional activities.
Sustainable Manufacturing Practices
The company is extremely conscious of its social responsibilities and is focused on sustainability measures. BSL has been compliant with IKEA’s global compliance norms for the past decade. It has received various accolades for the same, including zero discharge certification along with OEKO-TEX and vegan certification. The company is in the process of moving out of fossil fuels towards sustainable bio-fuel. This is being done by planning to shift from the usage of coal to sustainable bio-fuel such as rice husk, etc. It is also working towards increasing its capacity for the generation of renewable sources of energy.
“We are very confident of a substantial jump in our turnover from Rs 400 crore to Rs 700 crore in the next 3-5 years!” – Nivedan Churiwal.