By Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond Limited
Living with an old adage – ‘never waste a crisis’ is a reality now as the human race globally is struggling to come to terms with the new normal after the unprecedented devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The immediate impact of this pandemic and its aftermath, which is yet to be fully seen has derailed the entire economy and human life. It is posing serious existential questions that needs thorough introspection, logical re-calibration and prudent decisions to ensure long-term sustainability of organisations and its stakeholders. In the current context, organisations have to be intensely future-oriented and we remain focused on our long-term strategy.
Today, many organisations are frozen with fear, doubt, and lack of clarity; rebooting an organisation isn’t easy as it requires a lot of self-belief and creating new ways of doing things that also brings in fear of change and the fear of new. It is our passion for excellence that has propelled us to navigate numerous storms in our 95 year old existence and today we have arrived at a new dawn in our Raymond story. This new beginning assumes even more significance as organisations reinvent themselves to reinstate their relevance to consumers in the new normal.
In our endeavour to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Raymond has launched an exhaustive range of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) offerings. We are using garmenting factory in Bengaluru to manufacture PPE products (including masks and suits) which are currently being supplied to government, hospitals and other institutions. Additionally, our FMCG business was quick to respond and launched a slew of personal hygiene products as well as skin friendly hand sanitizers and cleansers as a part of Raymond Care initiative.
The Phygital World
The current pandemic has rewritten the rules for business with consumer behaviour changing by the day led by the growing thrust on digital. At Raymond, we have accelerated our pace of digital adoption and will be moving our channel and trade partners extensively onto digital platforms for trade bookings and other related activities. Our new digital infrastructure will lend us the competitive advantage to have a unified view of our inventory and will enable us to service our consumers across the length and breadth of the country through omni-channel. As the fashion industry is going ‘Phygital’, Raymond is committed to create delightful consumer experiences both in the online and offline world.
Make in India 2.0
Post COVID-19, as the clamour for the global manufacturing supply chain to move away from China is getting louder by the day, this is an opportune moment for India. Unlike our global counterparts, India is well positioned to emerge stronger than ever if it seizes the opportunity to become the preferred manufacturing destination.
Our strong capabilities across the production lifecycle including easy access to raw materials, human capital and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities makes the Indian economy more resilient than others. India is the second-largest producer and exporter of textiles after China and the fourth-largest producer and exporter of apparel after China, Bangladesh and Vietnam. There is ample headroom for growth and Indian manufacturing is in a bright spot, more so for the textile and apparel industry.
Being a proponent of self-reliance, Raymond has always followed the ‘Atmanirbhar philosophy’ since its inception in 1925. We pride upon creating many firsts and are relentless in our pursuit to offer world-class quality products and crafting delightful retail experiences for our consumers.
We are once again geared up to manouevre through the tough times with our renewed agility and our core strengths along with our deep rooted values of Quality, Trust and Excellence.
With the dawn of a new era, bright future beckons Raymond!