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The Textile Magazine
August 2012
nities in the Indian textile industry.
Terry towel
For Alok’s Home Textile Divi-
sion, already with a strong foothold
in the sheeting business, invest-
ment in terry towels was just a step
towards making Alok a one-stop
destination for home textile buy-
ers. Its Terry Division, started two
years ago, has recently doubled its
capacity to 1,100 tonnes/month,
with plans to further double this in
the next two years.
Mr. Sanjay Deora,
Chief Executive Officer
- Terry Towels, com-
ments: “We achieved
revenues of Rs. 159
crores (about $30 mn)
in sales for fiscal 2011-
12 and are targeting
to double sales in the
current year backed by
the additional capaci-
ties and a strong order
book. Currently our
major markets are the
US, the UK, Japan,
Australia and New Zea-
land. We are exploring new markets
like Russia and South America
and will be constantly looking to
expand our markets”.
“In the competing environment,
especially from domestic compa-
nies, we are making our mark with
major retailers worldwide through
strong R&D. In two years we have
launched new technologies like
Cloud Zero, Dura and quick dry
towels, giving us a leading edge
with many leading retailers. Our
major focus remains introducing
terry towels through innovation in
new fiber and process technologies.
With automization at every stage
of production we are confident of
achieving better margins and high
economies of scale as we add ca-
pacities”, he adds.
Though markets globally are a bit
slow and India’s terry capacity is
poised to increase further, the com-
pany boasts an overflowing order
book for the next 9 months. It aims
to position itself as the best in the
terry industry and plans to aggres-
sively increase its market share year
on year. “We would continue our
endeavor to be a one-stop source
for our home textile buyers and are
confident of growing our business
by delighting our customers with
our service and product innova-
tion”.
Garments
Mr. Romi Agarwal, Chief Execu-
tive Officer - Garments, says: “The
previous year was a satisfactory one
for us. Despite slowdown in our
major markets we could achieve
revenue of Rs. 217 crores, repre-
senting a growth of 25 per cent.
As we look ahead, prospects seem
bright for the garment business at
Alok. Till date, we were oriented
towards fashion garments. We are,
however, now focusing on new
emerging opportunities in industrial
and WorkWear garments. There
are some prerequisites to be strictly
adhered to in this segment, like
constant innovation, networking
and better supply chain manage-
ment with ability to link up to the
global value chain. This would also
complement our Technical Textile
Division, where we make special-
ized fabrics for various applica-
tions.
Though the Garment Division
is presently export oriented, the
company firmly believes that the
readymade garment segment will be
the principal driver of growth in the
domestic industry once FDI in the
retail sector is opened up, which is
just a matter of time.
Having built up the right size
with the right infrastructure, Alok is
ideally placed to take on competi-
cover story