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Interview with Vimall Arumugham

Vimall Arumugham
Vimall Arumugham
Executive Director
Arumuga Group of Industries
Arumuga Group of Industries

Government policies influence our growth
Textiles comprise around 85 per cent of the overall business at Arumuga Group of Industries, an India-based corporate giant with an annual turnover of around US$ 40 million. As the company continues to make its foothold stronger in the Indian textile industry, Vimall Arumugham, Executive Director of the company explains the workflow in the industry and shares some company details with Fibre2Fashion.com

What percentage of your overall business comprises the textiles niche?

The Arumuga Group is a multifaceted business organisation with a stellar presence in the field of textiles, food, FMCG, schools, and so on. Our prime business is textiles which comprises about 85 per cent of our total business. Speaking of only the textiles sector, 60 per cent is medical gauze (we are the largest manufacturers and exporters in India), 15 per cent is sheeting fabrics, 15 per cent is cotton spinning, 5 per cent is made-ups, and 5 per cent is garments. The group offers about 4,000 direct and roughly 2,000 indirect employment opportunities. Its manufacturing facilities are located in 16 different places in Tamil Nadu.
 

Which emerging markets are you exploring for your products?

Arumuga is currently exporting all over the world. We are concentrating more on Latin American countries to increase our market share. African markets are also becoming a point of interest for Indian textile industries.

What has been your growth percentage in the last two fiscals?

Arumuga has a growth of about 11 per cent and 14 per cent in the last two fiscals, despite a slowdown in the world textiles industry.

What is the size of the gauze clothing market in India? What is the percentage pie claimed by the Arumuga Group of Industries?

Gauze manufacturing in India is about Rs 350–400 crore, and about 15 per cent is manufactured at Arumuga. However, Arumuga being a 100 per cent EOU (export-oriented unit), all products manufactured are exported. Arumuga is the largest manufacturer and exporter for gauze in India.

What is the size of the cotton carded and combed yarn industry in India? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this industry?

Indian spinning industry is one of the biggest in the world with around 60 million spindles. Installed capacity of rotors in the country is around 9 lakh. India has the second highest spindleage after China, and contributes about 29 per cent share in the cotton yarn trade in the world. Strengths of the Indian spinning industry: India is one of the largest producers of cotton in the world. So, it has an abundant supply of raw materials. India has an abundant manpower when compared to other countries, which brings down the overall costing in the world market. Weakness of the Indian spinning industry: Over-capacity in recent years has affected profit in the Indian spinning industry to a greater extent than in the past years. Investments in other sectors such as weaving, processing and garmenting did not increase to the extent investments have in the spinning sector. So, there is more production and less demand. Indian labour productivity is lower as compared to other competing countries like China. Absenteeism and attrition rates are increasingly higher. Government labour policies and export policies (such as free trade agreements) are relatively unfavourable to the industry. The duty structure for export or import of cotton, yarn, manmade fibres are not on par with our competitors. Power costs, which contributes about 60 per cent of the yarn cost, is higher in India as compared to its neighbours.

What are your expectations from the coming two fiscals? Which factors will influence your strategies in the two fiscals?

Arumuga is expecting a minimum growth rate of 15 per cent in the coming fiscals, as we are already expanding our production capacities in OE yarn, comber and compact spinning products. We are also hunting new markets for better opportunities which will add to our sales. Government policies like providing good export incentives, subsidies on investments, interest benefits and free trade agreement (FTA) policies, revising a few old policies that potentially hinder the industry growth, etc, are the main factors influencing our growth strategies.

What is the budget allocated towards R&D?

Arumuga allocates about Rs 3–4 crore on R&D for development and investment in new projects or products annually.

Which are the major export markets for home textiles in India?

The European Union, the US, Canada and Australia are the major export markets for Indian home textiles. The main competitors for Indian home textiles are Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey.

Which policies in the upcoming Budget will ensure growth of your niche?

GST, which will make all taxes nationwide simple and uniform and is expected to be implemented during this budget, may be a good initiative for all the industries, especially the textiles industry. The industry expects more incentives in duty drawback rates and MEIS (Merchandise Exports from India Scheme) and amendments in TUFS (Technology Upgrading Fund Scheme) for the textiles sector. The industry has put to the ministry to bring a reduction in the Hank Yarn Obligation policy. It also desires to bring the number of products in the handloom sector from 16 to 6, which will help the industry grow.
Published on: 10/02/2016

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

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