Punit Makharia
Chairman & Managing Director Shree Pushkar Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd
Key end-user industries for colourants in India witnessing strong growth
Shree Pushkar Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd is an integrated speciality chemicals and colourants manufacturing company dealing in the entire range of textile chemicals. The company is one of the largest producers of dye intermediaries and dyestuff, with a wide range of dye intermediaries offering. Chairman and managing director Punit Makharia talks about the challenges and the latest innovations in the textile dyes niche.
What is the size of the global market for textile dyes and chemicals? What is the year on year growth of this market?
In terms of value, the global market size is projected to reach $9.82 billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6 per cent between 2019 and 2022. The disperse dye segment of the textile dyes market accounts for the largest share of the overall textile dyes market. The major drivers of the disperse segment include its use in multiple types of fibres like synthetic hydrophobic fibres, polyester and acetate fibres. Even the cotton fibre segment is projected to be the largest fibre type segment of the textile dyes market during the forecast period. This fibre type can retain many dyes and is washable and ironable. These properties make the textiles derived from cotton appropriate for mass-produced apparel. Viscose is projected to be the fastest-growing fibre type segment. The demand for viscose textile is driven due to its easy dyeing properties and low cost.
Which are your major markets for specialty chemicals and colourants-domestic as well as international? What is the share of textile chemicals in the overall specialty chemicals market?
Specialty chemicals are defined as a group of relatively high-value and low-volume chemicals known for their end-user applications and performance-enhancing properties. It is a highly knowledge-driven industry and the critical success factors include understanding customer needs and product developments to meet the same at a favourable price-performance ratio. Specialty chemicals play a vital role in new products developments as they aid in product differentiation and enable manufacturers to compete with unique features and benefits.
Dyes and pigments are colouring materials used as a critical input in many industries. Dyes are predominantly used in textile (70 per cent), food (8 per cent), leather (6 per cent), paper (5 per cent) and other industries (11 per cent) and pigments are used in paint & coating (53 per cent), plastic (22 per cent), ink (14 per cent), textile (6 per cent) and other industries (5 per cent). These are sourced from derivatives of coal tar, petroleum and metal oxides.
Within speciality chemicals, colourants, a $4.1 billion industry, is one of the fastest-growing in India with a CAGR of 15 per cent between 2011 and 2016. It is expected to grow at a similar rate to gain over 20 per cent global market share by 2021 from around 14 per cent in 2016 on the back of strong growth in key end-user industries. The paint & coating, textile, plastic, ink and cosmetic industries are likely to post a CAGR of 16 per cent, 10 per cent, 14 per cent, 8 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in India, and 5.6 per cent, 5.9 per cent, 8.1 per cent, 4.9 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively globally between 2015-16 to 2020-21. Low margins and return on investment due to increase in operating and capital costs and tightening of environment norms discourage existing and new capacity in China. India will continue to gain from this, shifting from toxic commodities to speciality, eco-friendly colourants and will witness a shift from small and unorganised to large players.
Which major factors have a huge impact on the Indian textile dyes and chemicals industry?
Key end-user industries for colourants are witnessing a strong growth in India and globally, led by plastics and textile globally, while in India it is expected to be led by paint and coating, plastics and cosmetic industry. The paint and coating industries are expected to get a boost from an increasing demand for high-grade paints, while demand in plastics will grow on the back of increasing importance for packaging and printing and faster conversion to flexible from rigid packaging.
What is the annual production capacity of textile dyes and chemicals at Shree Pushkar?
Our company is an integrated player, manufacturing wide range of dye intermediates, dyestuff and fertilisers. Our factories are located in Lote Parshuram, Maharashtra, with a capacity of 9,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of dye intermediates; 6,000 TPA of reactive dyes; 2,46,000 TPA of fertilisers, comprising 200,000 TPA of single superphosphate (SSP), 18,000 TPA of soil conditioner, 18,000 TPA of NPK fertilisers and 10,000 TPA of sulphate of potash (SOP); 125 TPD of sulphuric and its derivative acids; and 7,500 TPA of DCP, a cattle feed supplement. Almost 52 per cent of business is contributed by dye intermediates, 27 per cent by dye?stuff and the rest by by?products like fertilisers and cattle feed.
What are the company's core competencies?
We have always strived to be a self-sustaining unit, each step taken by the company is to become less dependent on outside sources, we have our own acid complex, produce power for captive consumption and have our own logistic fleet, but our true competencies reside in our zero waste model. We treat and use each line of waste that is generated from our manufacturing units and use those to make value-added products. This has resulted in us having immunity against shutdown from environment-related issues. We are now a BlueSign System Partner, proving that our practices are met and sustained to the top standards.
We provide one of the widest gambit of products for anyone seeking products in the dyes or the fertiliser industry, making us a one-stop-shop for these customers.
What new innovations and technologies do you plan to invest soon? Any expansion plans?
We have started test-marketing auxiliary chemicals. We have a clean track record with no regulatory issues and continually recycle our effluents in our integrated model and minimise discharge. We have been focusing on increasing revenue from the higher margin dyes business through the export and domestic markets. We have launched Dyecol for dyestuff and are looking to capture more value by leveraging our marketing capabilities. Our vision is to become a complete textile solutions provider.
What are the challenges hindering the growth of this sector in India?
The dye and dye intermediates industry largely caters to the textile sector and is concentrated in China, India and other smaller Asian countries. China has had a dominant position in production and consumption of dyes globally. However, China's dominance is steadily shrinking. China's share in the global colourant industry was once about one-third of the total supply but has gradually declined over the years. The key reason is the Chinese government's fight against polluting industries. Beijing is considered the most polluted city in the world. A growing number of RED category industries are contributing to extensive air and water pollution and the enforcement of stringent government norms to curb environmental pollution by chemical companies resulted in the periodical shutdown of large capacities within the dyestuff and dye intermediates industry. (HO)
Published on: 02/01/2019
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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