Interview Mr Tarun Chawla -President (Denim), Malwa Group of Companies
Malwa Group of Companies has established itself as one of the leading players in Indian textile industry having varied interest in segment of yarn, denim, woollen knitwear and sewing thread. The group has three functional divisions named Malwa Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd (MCSM), Malwa Industries Ltd (MIL) - Denim arm of the Malwa Group, and Oswal Knit India Ltd.
Malwa Cotton Spinning Mills Ltd or MCSM is among the top ten textile mills in the Indian sub-continent producing acrylic cotton yarn, high bulk acrylic yarn, polyester yarn, polyester cotton yarn, viscose yarn, dyed viscose yarn and viscose cotton yarn.
Malwa Industries is a vertically integrated textile company producing denim fabric and denim garments for the Indian and International markets. It stands tall and proud of its stature as one amongst a handful of denim suppliers globally to possess capabilities in offering Total Solutions in Denims and that too from a single point interface. Oswal Knit is the market leader for winter wear in the premium segment.
Mr Tarun Chawla, 41 years, President (Denim), joined Malwa Group in September 1997 and has been associated with the company right from the start of manufacturing operations.
Mr Chawla is a commerce graduate and holds the degree of Chartered Accountant. His vast experience of 18 years in finance and administrative areas has helped him contribute remarkably towards overall growth and success of the company.
Speaking with Face2Face team, Mr Tarun Chawla portrays Indian garment industry, current developments within the denim market, and also points up the areas that still need improvement.
fibre2fashion:
How has Malwa Group positioned itself in world denim market?
Mr Tarun Chawla
The Company’s facilities enable it to span various aspects of the textile production and value chain from producing cotton yarn and denim fabric to designing and manufacturing denim apparel for domestic and global customers in different market segments and carrying out high-end finishing services. The Company’s operations / facilities situated in strategic locations provides it platform to cater to leading international denim brands both denim fabric and garments.
Company’s operations are located in India, Jordan and Italy. Facility in Jordan is a garment manufacturing unit catering to the leading brands and has an advantage of duty free access to US whereas Italy facility is a denim garment finishing facility catering to the niche brands.
The Company’s installed capacity is 20 million meters per annum for denim fabric and 8.5 million pieces of denim garments comprising of 4.5 million pieces per annum in India and 4 million pieces per annum in Jordan. Italy facility has high-end finishing capacity for 2.5 million pieces per annum.
Malwa is an ISO 9001:2000 for denim fabric production activities guaranteeing quality control norms. The Company has also received ISO 14001:2004 for environmental standards. Malwa’s garment unit in India is also WRAP Certified.
The Company has internally developed fabric made of wool dyed in Indigo, fabric to which the International Wool Secretariat has assigned a special “IndiGO Wool” mark. The company has already done International filling of process patent for “IndiGO Wool”
Malwa’s strength / capabilities are:
(i) vertically integrated producer of denim with strategically located operations;
(ii) significant experience and long term client relationship;
(iii) in-house design and product development capabilities;
(iv) sophisticated textile technology;
(v) focus on the valued added Denims like Coated Denim, Mercerized Denim, Organic Denim for better realizations;
(vi) captive power plant based on Bio fuel.
fibre2fashion:
How do you see current developments within the denim market?
Mr Tarun Chawla
India’s production of denim fabric has doubled over the last five years, from 250 million square meters to almost 500 million meters today, and is expected to go up to 600 million meters over the next two years.
While fabric makers are finding the situation difficult due to increased supply in domestic market and pressure on margin in exports also due to rupee appreciation and increased cotton prices, jean makers are benefited with abundance of fabrics and depressed prices.
On the export front, India’s exports during this year are expected to be much higher at US $120 million, doubling from US $60 million during the last financial year. However Ruppe appreciation and increased cotton prices has substantially effected the margin. Competition in the global market particularly from Pakistan and India is however putting pressure on Indian exports. India’s exports of cotton denim fabrics reached US $95.05 million during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2006-07 (April-December), as against exports of US $91.06 million for the whole of 2005-06. India’s export to its main market Bangladesh has fallen and the share of Bangladesh has decreased from 40 percent to 26 percent. However exports to Turkey, Egypt and Cambodia have increased substantially.
India’s export trends reveal that its denim fabric is moving into the conversion centres, and also into countries that have preferential and free trade agreements with the US and EU. Thus, India exported denim worth US $280,000 to Jordan for the first time in the last few years. However, India’s denim exports to the US have been sporadic, with almost negligible US imports from India during the first few months of 2007.
As denim prices continue to fall, denim makers in India have shifted to production and exports of high value fabrics.
Print Interview | 
Forward Link to friend | 
