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The Textile Magazine
jANUARY 2012
Spearheading much of Picanol’s
growth in India is the dynamic sales
team headed by Mr. P. KasiViswa-
nathan, Head of Indian Operations,
Picanol India Pvt. Ltd. In an inter-
view to
The Textile Maga-
zine
, Mr. KasiViswanathan spoke
in detail about the company’s growth
story so far and the future expansion
strategy.
Excerpts:
Textile Magazine:
How
was the year just gone by for the
Indian economy, particularly the
textile sector?
KasiViswanathan:
Well, a lot
happened in 2011, mostly negative
in nature. The Indian currency was
devalued to the extent of 19 per cent
as compared to 2010. Though partly
attributable to local conditions, the
European debt crisis and the US
slowdown mainly accounted for
the FII pull-out from the stock ex-
change (capital market). More than
60 per cent of the Indian stock ex-
change transactions revolve around
FIIs. The Sensex went down by 25
per cent in the last 12 months. This
was probably in line with the fall in
other Asian countries. The index in
China was down by 21.7 per cent,
Hong Kong 20 per cent and in Japan
by 17.3 per cent. However, the US
market was higher by six per cent.
The strength of the US dollar against
other major currencies also pulled
INR down. Overall exports from In-
dia were at a two-year low. On the
other hand, I am surprised that the
weak INR is not seen as an oppor-
tunity for Indian textile exports, as
raw materials and labour (major cost
components in textiles) are sourced
locally in INR and thus offer lower
cost compared to China where the
currency has been strengthening
against both the Euro and the dollar.
Let us hope the new initiatives like
allowing foreigners to invest directly
in Indian stocks would attract more
foreign funds, reduce market vola-
tility and stabilise the Indian capi-
tal market. Local conditions are no
better either. Factors like
high interest rate (RBI
revised the interest rate
seven times in 2011 alone
to control inflation which
remained high at 9-10 per
cent), rising fiscal and cur-
rent account deficit, slow
decision making due to
political compulsions, etc.,
had their impact on all in-
dustry sectors, including
textiles. Even though, of
late, the textile market is
most domestic market-ori-
ented as compared to the
condition obtaining some
10 years ago, we need to
focus on the export market
mainly for earning valu-
able foreign exchange.
Restoration of TUFS for
the textile industry and the additional
benefit of 10 per cent capital subsidy
for new weaving machines were of
course welcome signs.
TM:
Picanol has completed four
years of its operations in India.
How was the journey so far?
KV:
A pretty good and smooth
ride, I would say. Our focus was very
clear when we started our operations.
Picanol India started as a small set-up
with three offices, one each in Delhi,
Mumbai and Coimbatore. Today we
are functioning as a complete team
with sales, service and print repair
shops capable of fulfilling the needs
of individual customers all over India.
We have also developed a separate
team to take care of customer require-
ments of spares & accessories, etc.
TM:
How successful were the
company operations in India in the
last four years?
KV:
Setting up of the Indian office
made a lot of difference to the compa-
ny customers. They are indeed happy
with the decision to set up the Indian
Mr. P. KasiViswanathan, Head of Operations, Picanol India, (right), in conversation
with a customer
cover story