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The Textile Magazine
jANUARY 2012
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45
cal textiles. We have a major market
share in both these technologies as
proved over a period of time.
TM:
How prompt and efficient
is your after-sales service? Any
special initiative which you would
like to highlight in this regard?
KV:
Our talented service team is a
blend of youth and experience. The
aim is that, with Picanol looms, new
or second-hand, the customer should
be able to get the best out of our ma-
chines. We can extend our expertise
not only with regard to installation,
regular servicing and in-plant train-
ing, but work with customers on per-
formance enhancement program by
which our team would jointly work
with the customer team to accept the
challenge of increasing the efficien-
cy of loom shed and enhancement of
the quality of the preparatory depart-
ment.
We continue emphasising the role
of “original Picanol spares” on our
machines, as this is the best way to
safeguard the value of our custom-
ers’ investment. We even offer sev-
eral weave-up or upgrade packages
by which we offer our customers the
opportunity to take advantage from
innovations on new machine types
without having to invest in a com-
pletely new machine. Some of the
packages such as Cordless, Airmas-
ter, ARVD+, LDEC System, etc.,
have attracted customer attention
worldwide.
TM:
How will be the New Year
for the weaving industry in gener-
al, and Picanol in particular?
KV:
Customers focusing on fab-
rics designed to meet local demand
will have an edge over the others.
This is true considering the wide
currency fluctuations and an uncer-
tain export market due to the Euro-
pean debt crisis and the reduced de-
mand from the US. In this context,
I feel there will be greater demand
for denim fabrics in India. This
segment, with enormous potential,
keeps growing year after year. You
will also see India emerging soon as
a leading global producer of denim
fabrics. Yet another growing mar-
ket is for shirting, followed by terry
towel and sheeting. Though the latter
is at present export-oriented, it will
attract equal domestic attention over
the next few years.
TM:
In the current uncertain
economic scenario, what would be
the factors driving demand, par-
ticularly for textile products?
KV:
The weakening of the Indian
rupee is of major concern for eve-
rybody (though, as said earlier, in
my opinion this is an opportunity
for Indian textile exports). Added to
this are the gradual decline in overall
industrial output and withdrawal of
FIIs from the financial market. How-
ever, I am sure that India, an emerg-
ing Asian industrial power with its
vibrant economy, will once again set
an example by leading an economic
revival from the current slowdown as
it did a couple of years back by being
the first to come out of the worst-ev-
er global recession of 2008. What is
needed is political stability and quick
decision making. All eyes are on the
forthcoming Budget, as well as the
expected positive signals from the
European Union and the US.
TM:
Are you planning any new
product introduction in the emerg-
ing situation?
KV:
No. Since we utilised ITMA
2011 at Barcelona as the launching
pad for several new machine mod-
els, we are sure the current year will
witness surging demand for such
sophisticated products, particularly
OmniplusSummum which was the
star attraction at the show, and the
gradual market introduction of Op-
timax in wide and positive execu-
tion in the growing technical textiles
segment. In brief, we are just assess-
ing the market for the new products
launched at the exhibition.
TM:
How important is the In-
dian market for Picanol, and what
are the future growth and expan-
sion plans?
KV:
India is always ranked among
the Top 3 for the Picanol Group. We
will continue investing on expanding
our sales and service activities in the
country. Further, we will accelerate
the expansion programme depend-
ing upon the achievements made
in the next three years. Since, at
the moment, weaving is getting top
priority, we would like to see more
value addition at the mid-segment
market as well.
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