Dollar Industries Ltd. has emerged as one of the fastest to grow within India’s hosiery sector, from Rs. 300 crores to Rs. 900 crores in seven years. It expanded its market share to 15 per cent in FY17 and has set an ambitious target of Rs. 2,000-crore revenue by 2024.
The company feels that GST is expected to create a level playing field for the organized player through taxation parity. This will hopefully drive sales migration from the unorganised to the organized sector owing to price differentiation and better product value. Dollar clocked a turnover of Rs. 906 crores for 2016-17 and profit after tax of Rs. 43.47 crores.
India’s innerwear segment enjoys growth potential as evident in the entry of international brands and domestic market expansion. The growth of the innerwear category is largely driven by urban consumption marked by a preference for fashionable and comfortable innerwear driven by rising disposable incomes, discretionary spending, larger number of working women and growing fashion consciousness. Presently, the size of the Indian innerwear market is Rs. 15,870 crores which is projected to grow to Rs. 68,270 crores by 2024. The women’s innerwear market of Rs. 9,540 crores is one of the fastest growing categories within women’s apparel and is likely to keep growing.
Identifying the opportunity and as part of its plan to achieve its ambitious target, Dollar has prudently invested in backward integration to achieve better control over quality as well as supply. The company continues investing in brand building. The 360º communication approach is aimed at creating a unique identity for the brand. Dollar is ramping its distribution channel through a committed distribution. It plans to add more distributors and retailers in the next five years.
Dollar Industries started as a small family-run hosiery brand in 1972. It is now an internationally-recognised Indian innerwear and outerwear brand addressing the needs of men, women and children through more than 350 products.
Let by Mr. Din Dayal Gupta, Chairman, Mr. Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Binay Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, and Mr. Krishan Kumar Gupta and Mr. Bajrang Kumar Gupta, Whole-Time Directors, the company has a team of competent professionals with long-standing association with the hosiery sector.
Headquartered in Kolkata, Dollar Industries’ manufacturing facilities are located in Kolkata, Tirupur, Delhi and Ludhiana. These facilities comprise spinning, knitting, processing, bleaching,cutting, stitching packaging and dispatching, assuring complete integration. The Tirupur facility’s effluent treatment unit has eliminated liquid discharge. A 5-megawatt wind energy facility in Tamil Nadu provides the energy needed for the company’s spinning mills.
Mr. Vinod Kumar Gupta says: “It took us more than 40 years to get to nearly Rs. 1,000 crores in revenues; we are now driving the company to achieve the next Rs. 1000 crores in just seven years. This challenging target will only be achieved if we outperform our sector, with respect to our peers and our retrospective average”.
The new company vision
“Dollar in everyone’s lives”, is a reflection of the new mindset at the company. Commenting on this, Mr. Binay Kumar Gupta says: “The statement points to the need to play an integral role in the lives of people through diverse clothing products.”
At a time when two-thirds of the country’s hosiery segment is held by unorganized players, a quick switchover is essential. When this occurs organised manufacturers will grow faster and the stronger brands within the country’s organised sector will carve out a larger share.
In a statement, Mr. Din Dayal Gupta asserts: “We recognise the overarching importanceof growing revenues and profits without correspondingly growing our balance sheet. We believe this forms the basis of our long-term sustainability. Consequently, we devised a structured plan to make this a reality, which will be reinforced during the current financial year. The essence of this initiative will be premiumisation. We intend to introduce a larger number of products that will figure on the high-end section of the value chain. We believe that enhanced realisations will bolster our profitability. In view of this, we are optimistic about our prospects in FY18 and hope to report revenues in excess of Rs. 1,000 crores”.
The company has blow and carding machine equipped with vital (foreign material detector) attachment from Trutzschler and Trumac supported by a conditioning plant from Batliboi, Rieter and LMW, Suessen, Schlafhorst, Uster-5 and Classimate.
Knitting
In addition to in-house spinning, the company offers customers better quality within shorter lead times. The knitted fabric range includes a wide variety of fabrics (single jersey, pique and fleece). As a global brand, Dollar honed its expertise in knitting and supplying body-shaping fabrics for innerwear and active wear.
Dollar Industries’ knits processing division is equipped with the latest automation and lab equipment as well as eco-friendly dyes and chemicals. It has machines from Sclavos, MCS, Bianco, Strahm, Corino and Fongs with an installed capacity of 400 tonnes per month. It has also an elastic production capacity of 10 lakh metres per month and cutting capacity of three lakh pieces per day.
The company is now focusing on the premium and super-premiumbrands and is targeting the aspiring youth of the country through its super-premium range, Force NXT. It continues to introduce new SKUs in premium ranges and is continuously upgrading the designs, quality and comfort of its products through R&D process.
The company has also ventured into marketing through Modern Retail Trade – Large Format Stores and e-commerce platform – and aspires to grow its sales through this channel in the years to come. It has also launched a new premium range under the brand Big Boss J series-Premium quality.