Step into the world of Adwaith Lakshmi Group, where tradition meets innovation, and excellence is the cornerstone of every endeavor. Founded on the principles of quality, integrity, and relentless dedication, Adwaith Lakshmi has emerged as a beacon of success in the textile industry. With a rich legacy spanning decades, the group continues to redefine standards and push boundaries, driven by a vision of continuous growth and customer-centric innovation. Join us on a journey through the illustrious history, diverse portfolio, and unwavering commitment of Adwaith Lakshmi Group as we delve into the heart of its remarkable story.
We had the pleasure of meeting Ravi Sam, the dynamic Managing Director of Adwaith Lakshmi, at the company’s headquarters, nestled amidst idyllic surroundings painted with verdant lawns and a majestic canopy of trees. In a captivating conversation, Ravi Sam graciously shared insights into a myriad of topics, spanning the group’s illustrious history, diverse divisions and product offerings, state-of-the-art manufacturing infrastructure, unique selling propositions, unwavering dedication to sustainability, and ambitious plans for the future.
Reflecting on the company’s history
Beginning the interaction with an overview of the company’s history, Ravi Sam said, “In 1950s the knowhow of textiles and its related technologies were making slow progress. There existed very few pioneers who stringently worked for the development of textile trade of the Coimbatore. My father Shri. G N Sam was, one them who had a vision to indigenously cultivate, long staple cotton that hitherto was being imported from various countries.”
“He predicted that rare varieties of cotton such as ‘Suvin’ belonged to a niche category of fibres that are consumed for very high premium quality of yarns in the niche luxury segments of textiles value chain and has no parallel and alternative in the world of today, therefore as a man, of intensive passion for agriculture, he conceived the idea of indigenously raising exotic varieties in his fields. He also studied the features of the fibre as it came to his mill for processing and well aware of its staple strength as it had already established its position as the fibre for spinning over 140-240s count yarn,” he said.
Suvin is a hybrid of Sea Island cotton from St. Vincent in the Caribbean and an indigenous Indian variety called ‘Sujata’. Often called ‘White Gold’, only a few thousand bales are grown each year in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. “Suvin Cotton” in Coimbatore is synonymous with yesteryear visionary and industrialist – Shri. G N Sam.
As an expert in identifying and analysing the staple strength of cotton Shri. G N Sam had established a spinning mill in the year 1956 and named it Sujini Textiles Ltd. at Senthottam, Sowripalayam, which is today’s Adwaith Textiles. Today Adwaith Textiles nestles in the heart of the Coimbatore city, surrounded by ever green memories and greenery, meeting modern day standards of today in all aspects.
Key Business Units
Giving a brief on the key business units of the Adwaith Lakshmi Group, Ravi Sam said, “Our core areas can be classified in textile and textile machinery allied businesses, as our identity. On a closer note, Adwaith group is into spinning, home textiles, Industrial paints & powder coating and textile components manufacturing.”
Spinning division
“With regards to spinning, we are, one of the pioneers in cotton yarn spinning. We directly procure cotton from ginneries across states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana, selecting only those with a stellar 5-star rating. This ensures access to high-quality yarn. We also procure BCI, Organic, and Oeko-tex cotton to meet diverse customer requirements,” he responded.
“Our array of counts, are versatile in a way, that we can produce from 10s count till 100s count. We do coarse counts for our home textile business, and our finer counts are very popularly used by many renowned shirting & suiting brands, leading sheeting manufacturers, due to its highly reliable quality, and rich mixing that we ensure. Our mill produce lot of value added items, such as slub yarn, cotton/lycra yarn, organic cotton yarn, eco-friendly zero twist yarns, Silver blended yarn, gassed yarn, Linen blended yarns, BCI, Giza,” he elaborated.
Home textiles division
With respect to its home textiles business, it is specialised in exports of terry towels, sheeting fabric, kitchen cloth, table napkin for upscale hotel chains, retail customers across the world. “The terry towel business is relatively a young and nascent business in our business in terms of number of years, but a growing business to nurture,” he said.
Engineering components division
“Our textile engineering component business manufacture textile machinery components that are required for spinning and other allied processes. Mainly it caters to our associated group company that makes spinning machines. Our other group company Lakshmi Ring Travellers produce ring travellers, and they have a market share over 70% in the traveller business, and cater to OEM machinery manufactures including our associated group company,” he explained.
Industrial paints & powder coatings division
Another one of the group’s entity – Titan Paints & Chemicals produces industrial paints and powder coatings, for the textile machinery, and other OEM machinery. “It was started in the year 1945, and has a heritage of Sir C.V. Raman being, on the board of the Directors then. The company is one of the top 10 suppliers of industrial paints in India, and supplies to leading equipment manufacturers in the country. As the technology and business is growing, they are steering the inroad in decorative paints,” he mentioned.
The Home Textiles growth story
Even though a relatively new entrant, the company has emerged as a name to reckon with in the home textile domain. Going into further details on this rapid growth story, he stated, “In order to strengthen our spinning business, we went for a forward integration, thereby, started our home textile business in 2009-10.”
“We gave a thrust and focus to it from 2014, and are able to see a steady pace, where we invest periodically, as it is a growing business that needed nurturing. The home textile business is today diversified into various categories like retail hospitality and health care,” he highlighted. The main products the company offers in this segment manufactures are terry towels, bath robes, bath mats, kitchen towels, blankets, bed linen fabric and table napkins.
“It is important to note, that we cater to categories of bath, kitchen, F&B area textiles, and fabrics for sheeting. Interestingly, we have entered into the medical textile field, where we started to cater health care towels, and surgical towels. These products require highest safety standard, US FDA approval in manufacturing, as it is used by in patients and in the surgical procedures,” Ravi Sam added.
Robust manufacturing facilities
Delving into details about the group’s manufacturing infrastructure, he pointed out that all the factories are strategically located on the National Highway, well connected to 3 major ports Tuticorin, Cochin, Chennai. “The factories are internationally compliant in all standards as on today, with required certifications in terms of product front, safety standards, social accountability standards. The factories are equipped with modern airjet, rapier looms, in dobby, Jacquard, automated sewing lines, which assure high quality standard, reliability in the productivity standards,” he highlighted.
“The setup is very special that, it can handle production of various type of products ranging from coarser to very finer count fabric. This is very important, to note that, every market has different requirement and this versatility is very important, as the business can deliver the customer requirement with more flexibility, with quick turnaround time.”
New processing unit
“The latest addition to our infrastructure is our new fabric processing unit, which is set up at Perundurai, with advanced European machines and with the most modern 5 stage, Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system, which reuse about 98% of its water. The Effluent treatment plan is planned in such a way, that it can handle 1000 tons/month, from the current operational level of 500 Tons/month,” he noted.
Global presence
When asked about the key global markets where the company has a presence and name some of the global brands and retailers with which it is working, Ravi Sam stated that the home textile business exports to about 32 countries worldwide comprising US, Japan, Europe, UK, LATAM, south east Asian markets.
“The products are sold, to some of the very reputed retailers in Japan, France, Germany, who demand the highest quality standard. In terms of Hotel chains, the products are sold to the most exotic resorts, in Latin American, North American, Middle East markets, where the name is enough to speak about the reputation. In terms of health care, we cater to Global leader in health care textile, in US and Europe,” he observed.
Key advantages
In the fiercely competitive field of home textiles, the company stands out with a host of distinctive advantages. Elaborating on them he said, “Today, the order of the day is very dynamic, and we need to adapt different strategies to stay in the business. As you know, price is one of the key parameter, but not the only parameter, that decides the business merit. It is common, to think, that higher priced products are high quality and vice versa. Our motto is to give highest quality product at the most competitive price possible.”
The distinct advantages of Adwaith Lakshmi are as follows:-
- We are optimally right sized, to handle the challenges and fluctuations
- Our core strength lies in our strength of choosing right cotton, and intelligent procurement process
- Our technical strength and might in R&D, is the key pillar of growth, where it makes us unique
- We do not cherry pick the business, rather engage with customer and partner with customers, when they find challenge in developing certain products, and give shape to their ideas.
- We are totally customer centric, and we listen to the customers, rather than trying to make and push our products.”
Consistent growth
Speaking on the growth of the home textiles business over the years and his expectations of the future, Ravi Sam remarked that the business has been doing well over the years despite challenges in the market.
“With slow and steady steps, we were able to achieve an organic growth in the business. When the challenges persist, we keep finding novel options to navigate, when we pass through those period, and try alternate strategies to perform well in the business. In a nut shell, our versatility in production, flexibility with customer oriented alignment is a key strength. Above all, our customers are the greatest pillar of support and reason for our growth.”
“We are growing at a nice pace, and it has prompted us to invest and expand consistently. We have expanded our production capacity, and have set up a state of the art new processing factory at Perundurai, with an infrastructure that can handle upto 1000 tons/month of fabric processing in the years to come. Our wish is to maintain a good pace of growth, but spread our wings into retail, E-commerce, health care business, in a nice way.”
Textile components business
Going into details regarding the company’s textile components business, Ravi Sam shared, “The textile component business makes components mainly for our associated group company. The products that are produced are mainly meant for the spinning ring frame, as a component, gear assembly, cots & rollers, bobbin holders. The key take away is that, we have to constantly innovate and upgrade, as the technology in spinning changes and grow.”
Throwing light on the manufacturing infrastructure for textile components he said, “The textile component unit is an automated line with ground bar management systems, and are equipped with European machines of high productivity, precision. The factory is certified by CII centre of quality, for the best practice of TPM. This textile component business mainly caters to our group company.”
Embracing automation
Automation and Digitization are increasingly becoming important in textile manufacturing. Highlighting Adwaith Lakshmi’s investments and efforts, both in textile manufacturing and in the components that you are offering for the industry, Ravi Sam pointed out, “As we understand “change is the only thing, that remains constant”, it is the order of the day to adapt to these changes, may it be in terms of technology, fibre science, automation, artificial intelligence and so on.”
“We are a fan of these developments and we have specialist team, to work on digitization, automation, artificial intelligence. Starting from spindle monitoring system, weaving, processing, sewing and to the final product check, we ensure to use the best available technology. The PLC SCADA based control systems, make certain processes like effluent management, very effective and precise.”
“IOT based systems for data collection, process mapping and control plays a key role in making us more efficient, and helps in right decision making. These data give a reliability, transparency and consistency in the manufacturing value chain, to us and our customers.”
Sustainability thrust
Right from the green settings of its headquarters to its manufacturing process, the group has been a frontrunner when it comes to adopting sustainability initiatives. According to Ravi Sam, sustainability is not a mere buzz word for the group, rather, it is a moral obligation of every Industry and citizen. Listing down the group’s initiatives he said, “We replaced all our coal fired boilers to agro waste based briquettes some 10 years ago. We are one of the few pioneers started investing in wind mills at the Kayathar sea belt, 20 years back, and these wind turbines are modernised and are still operational. Our mills are roof top solar powered, and are investing capex again in this fiscal year to add another 10 MW of solar plant. In terms of energy usage, we have reached 84% level in usage of sustainable power. Our aim is to be on 100% sustainable power in 12-18 months span, and thereby we ensure that the products that are manufactured in a carbon neutral factory.”
“Our new processing unit, is set in a way that, it uses agro waste for the boilers, use effective energy recovery systems that ensure less usage of energy. Our 100% ZLD Zero liquid discharge effluent treatment plant, ensures that water is re-used and we make sure to conserve our nature in every walk of our business,” he said adding further on the subject.
Giving back to the society
The Adwaith Group is known for its various CSR initiatives. Elaborating on them, Ravi Sam said, “We are fortunate to see and grow in an environment, where giving back to the society, is imbibed from our elders, for generations as a moral obligation. We feel, it is a responsibility of every individual and company to support at their best possible level.”
The group runs a traditional ‘Veda Pada Shala’ and are committed to preserve the cultural values, offers free Vedic education, blending traditional wisdom with modern scientific principles.
“We also take great pride in the history of our land and think that it is a gift that should be protected and passed on for all future generations to appreciate. We utilise our project management expertise to renovate and restore ancient temples and monuments across India. The recent ones are at Kanchipuram, Srirangapatnam, Kasargod,” he stated.
According to him, the group is committed to the social concerns, in every aspect of its business. “We are committed to keeping our eco-system clean and have been instrumental in creating the social awareness in the Coimbatore city regarding water conservation. We have adopted tanks for restoration and rejuvenation activities in and around the city. This initiative has greatly helped sustain the water resources in the city,” he explained.
“Interestingly, we make 100% naturally made Incense sticks and cone Incense, collecting the wasted flowers from temples and recycling into Incense sticks and Cone Incense. The proceeds of this, goes to the trust, which in turns support the projects that are in need,” he added.
Optimistic outlook
India is expected to become a USD 10 trillion economy by the end of this decade. Textile manufacturing and exports in particular is expected to touch USD 350 Bn and USD 100 Bn respectively. Giving his take on the government’s focus and support for the textile industry and his expectations on the future Ravi Sam shared, “Certainly every one of us, are part of this growth. We have to say that, the initiatives taken by the Government are really good. The good thing is that, the Government hears the need of the Industry to the greater extent. We are expecting the FTA with UK, to happen soon and will make us competitive with other countries, as UK is one of the country that has shared values as we. Once UK FTA is done, then, it will also create interest for Europe to pursue. We hope this will also happen at some time soon.”
“For instance, ‘Bharat Tex’, is a very good initiative of the Ministry of Textiles, which will certainly give a different perspective about Indian textile industry in a holistic way. We have few points on PLI 2, for the Government to consider, and we hope in the next term, the Government will roll out in a very nice way. Once this scheme rolls out in right shape, then we can be certainly one of the participant of this growth story.”
Future plans
Finally, when queried on the vision that he has set for the group to achieve by 2030, Ravi Sam mentioned, “Our vision is very simple and straight forward. We do not believe in reaching numbers, and it is all about the consistency and persistence. Our aim is to focus on adding value added products, grow with a good rate of growth and, with a diversified spread in all our business areas. “I extend my best wishes to everyone participating in the Bharat Tex fair!” he said signing off.