Brief of the company since inception
In 1982, we shifted to Surat from Pipariya Madhya Pradesh, which falls under the Jabalpur railway division. The main reason for shifting is that in Pipariya there is no wholesale shop for buying clothes. There was no scope in Pipariya. We also traveled and studied Bombay, Ahmedabad, and Surat and found that Surat is a more progressive place and in the future, there are plenty of scopes. Having traveled for 10 years, first in Surat we made sarees for 2-3 years, and then we made shirts. In Surat, we launched a shirt, called Texcon Tex shirting in the latest fashion. In 1992 we had developed a process house in Madhusudan. Students studying engineering or non-engineering study, chemical industry, etc have the potential to set up the textile industry. A student who has studied mechanical engineering and 2 students having done MBAs in the US came over here. Here, innovative pop culture thriving, t-shirts became popular, and we made cloth from plastic bottles. China gives tough competition in these products.
How was the going for company in the last 40 years under your leadership?
In 1975 I set up a business and from 1976 onwards I had managed the complete work. This is a family business of textiles and we have offices in Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Surat, Panipat, Amritsar, Kolkata, and many more places. Apart from the domestic business, we are in the export business too in yarns and garments. Our company has moved from Rs 3 lakh turnover to Rs 500 crore.
How much are your domestic and international turnovers currently?
The share of domestic business is 60% and 40% is export. We are exporting to countries including Thailand, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and many more. We are having textile centers in some areas and we have our agents’ offices as well our offices. In some areas, our teams are available and are running the business.
What are the Value and Ethics of Madhu Sudan?
It’s 6-types of values we are known for, i.e., teamwork, diversity, innovation, adaptability, discipline, accountability. Madhusudan company is an ethical textile company in the world. Any of the companies can be associated with Madhu Sudan and they will definitely get the best services, best innovation best development in an ethical way.
How much research is going on and what developments?
We have research centers in every division. In garments, every day is a new innovation. Today we have 11,000 different qualities we have R&D department in every sector they study and come with new ideas on how the trend is going on and then produce goods giving it back to customers. Why it is successful? Because here the top management, R&D and we ourselves personally do all machine development. The team is working towards new development.
What are your patent policies?
Unfortunately, the textile industry is very unorganized. There is one solution that says if we perform new innovation that will be copied so patent doesn’t work in this industry. There is only one thing which says we come with innovation that gets copied and then we proceed with more with new things. Always be one step ahead to always come with new ideas because the era of patents has vanished. The people of Surat are very sharp since they grasp new things and also maintain reasonability for customers. If something costs somewhere Rs 10 lakh here it will cost only in thousands. We brought our machine idea from Korea in 1998-99 for Rs 1.5 crore and made our first machine for Rs 12 lakh and afterward it was copied and made for Rs 3 to 4 lakh.
Views on pricing…
There are two things: First, those who will invent; their prices will always be high and the second thing is we are in this market and we will sell to customers who are going to buy things from others also. We are a competitive company with competitive prices and additional service and value is innovation where a customer gets the realization of the price today. The customer gets that benefit if someone takes the value-added products from us.
What are your new plans and textile expansion?
It is already a vertically integrated yarn plant. It also has processing and garments and we own our brand and the plan after 1 to 2 years is to expand in every field. The more the production the more is our sales. We have expanded right from toy to garments. Madhusudhan will vertically integrate the textile company. Apart from this we also have one vertical in medical into health care division, which manufactures equipment and products for health care. We export to the US, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, etc. In India, we supply directly and also distribute.
Share us more about the recycling division
In India, we are the first company who bring the technology of good quality recycled material. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to create a quality which European customers would prefer. We are not having a proper ecosystem and so we internationally learn things and bring it here. For example, we take plastic water bottles then we convert them into raw materials and make fabrics that are equally good.
Recycling is the future because pollution has increased and so much plastic has increased. Earlier 5 years back this knowledge was not known of recycling and now in Europe people don’t miss out this topic. So, I think in the coming next years this will become a word of mouth. We have already started working on it. Because we won’t stop drinking water and the plastic bottles can be recycled to make good quality garments, so why not utilize them.
The industry is huge and we have our own specialty. For example, Reliance has its own alliance with specific products they make. Comparatively, we are smaller ones, so we are open to coming out with new products, which is an advantage to our customers.
Future Expansion Plan
We are working on many things. In the next five to six months, you will see Madhu Sudhan with new ideas. We make many fancy things. For example, cotton is so costly so looking at the economic perspective we are coming out with cotton, wool, and silk replacement and this is our core mastery. The rates usually are good enough for a middle-class man who also wants to look good, so we have mastered it.
Future of textiles
In the future, knitting will be more popular and the industry is working on garments. Revenue should be multiplied and it depends on the technology we have and if we have the best one then the market will automatically get good. We should consider the trends going on in the market and so we should consider having new technologies only then we will survive. We all are trying to come out with new innovations
Being the Chairman of a successful company, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs …
I would like to say “you should work with a commitment that what is our goal and to achieve it you should go with all your energy and the second point is an investment. Today, you get many facilities from government loans, etc. then you should use that fund properly. “ If there is no dedication it is of no use. We have taught our children to go abroad. They should not stay there but come back to India and use the latest technology. We have given them liberty but have warned them for one thing which is ‘never buy second-hand machine’. Technology is a long-time investment. There are so many ways to get information.
Japan is a country with having cluster economy. There, all come together to form an industry that is how it works; four people should combine and form an industry. The Government will also support it since the subsidy is Rs 300 crore from which 15% is the incentive, so we should take advantage of it. In Surat, there is no unity, understanding. Even if we talk of forming a cluster they won’t agree. Little has changed here. The cluster approach will have to be considered, how much does an individual will perform? This motive should reach everybody.
