Batliboi is a pioneer in the field of Air Engineering. The company is the market leader in this segment and has made some significant acquisitions to further build on its capabilities. We spoke to Mr. Daniel Vaz, CEO of the company’s air engineering business to know more about the current scenario and future plans.
How is the air engineering business for Batliboi been in recent years?
Batliboi Ltd. is having its clear focus and continual commitment for offering air engineering solutions to textile industry for over 50 years. Indian Textile Industry has gone through ups and downs due to various reasons in last 7 to 8 years. Many new projects and investments came up during 2005-2008, and we have done exceptionally well during the period.
We have had reasonably good business over the last few years considering that the industry has not been growing to the extent desired. We have booked a good number of orders and expect significant growth this year.
Can you highlight some of the new technologies offered by Batliboi, particularly in the areas of energy-efficient technologies, automation and space saving?
Nowadays, the automatic control and central monitoring system has become a permanent feature of any new project. We offer the Sauter automatic control system from Switzerland which ensures precise control of condition in production halls.
The recent trend has been minimizing the power bill and completing projects at a faster pace. We are having dedicated design to ensure optimum solutions for projects. The tailor-made and accurately designed systems ensure minimum power requirement. We also offer energy-efficient fans and motors as well as inverter-driven pumps to minimize energy costs.
A new concept is to supply prefabricated units for air engineering system for faster completion of projects. Batliboi is offering a wide range of prefabricated units of up to 320,000 cmh capacity with wall panels made from GI precoated sheets and PUF sandwiched in between.
Can you highlight some of the recently executed projects by Batliboi?
Batlboi has always believed in producing consistent product quality and build mutually beneficial relationships with customers by providing the right kind of solution and prompt after sales service support. We thank our esteemed clients – Sutlej Group, Mohan Spintex, Loyal Textile, Banari Amman, Omex Cotspin, Raymond, Nahar, Moenus, Ambika, Pashupati, Sumeet, and many more customers across India for partnering with Batliboi Ltd. for their projects.
The specific highlights of the recently booked projects are auto control systems, inverter-driven pumps and accurate designs for optimizing energy cost and prefabricated units instead of civil construction.
Can you briefly touch upon the manufacturing and R&D infrastructure of Batliboi’s air engineering business?
We have in-house state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and capability to produce the entire range of textile air engineering equipments which include high efficiency fans, air washer system, rotary drum filters, rotary water filters, fibre recovery and condenser system, extruded aluminum aerofoil dampers, etc. Our manufacturing facility at Surat has range of sophisticated machines like CNC Turret punch, Radial drilling, Power bending, Shearing machine, Heavy duty lathe. We are the only Textile Air Engineering company that manufactures the full range of equipment under one roof.
What is the market share of Batliboi’s air engineering business in the textile industry?
We have always enjoyed a major market share of textile industry in the past. In today’s competitive market, we have the largest market share in south India and a significant presence in the North and the West.
How is BatliboiTAE’s presence in technical textile projects?
Technical textiles is niche segment in textile sector and is as yet embryonic compared to the existing cotton yarn spinning industry. We have done some business in hygiene and medical product applications. Our efforts are underway to develop and increase our presence in this segment.
Air engineering being a highly competitive industry, What are the advantages of the solutions offered by Batliboi?
The Indian textile industry is one of the major and important markets for all the machinery and equipment suppliers. Moreover, the Indian textile industry has shown growth in the past, and further growth is going to happen in the years to come. Naturally the business environment has been very competitive for textile air engineering also.
Batliboi Ltd. offers complete turnkey solutions with latest equipments and sophisticated automatic controls like any other overseas supplier for new projects. Today, European manufacturers have set up base locally, and hence the perception of European quality is a bit dented. Our customers put us on par in with renowned players for technology and equipments offered by us.
The benefits for customers working with Batliboi are the capability to design optimum plant which ensures saving in energy, in-house manufacturing facility ensuring consistent quality equipments and timely delivery for faster completion of projects, and experienced service professionals having network across India.
Can you give us a brief on the company’s presence in the export markets?
Our focus on exports is in the African market, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. About 15 per cent of our business comes from these markets.
How do you see future growth prospects for the air engineering business?
Growth for air engineering business depends on the economic well-being of the spinning and weaving industries. The present scenario looks promising due to investor friendly policies, continuous demand for yarn and fabrics, enhanced power supply in south India, professionally managed units and awareness for technology as well as quality equipments.