Interview with Dr MP Agarwal

Among the most demanding customers of textile materials in the world are the members of our fighting forces, and army personnel are among those with the critical requirements. Personal protective equipment for military personnel is needed during non-combat, combat & emergency survival operation. Military uniforms must meet specific protective performance requirements related to their use in battlefield, tanks, aircrafts, underwater etc like extreme temperatures ambient conditions, immersion hypothermia etc. Technical textiles have proved to be the major contributor to defense applications replacing conventional heavier textile materials. We saw this huge opportunity when it comes to technical textiles in the defence segment. In India, there are just a few prominent players mainly Arvind, Paragon, Alok Industries, SGI etc but they are not providing the whole bouquet of defence products. Hence, the opportunity to enter in a niche category of technical textiles looked like the best option. Also, it was a logical choice for a company like us looking at huge volumes. The technology that we have too gave a competitive edge over other players. We are currently producing camouflage Uniform Fabrics, Ghillie Suits, heavy duty nylon fabrics, infra red fabrics and nuclear biological and chemical fabrics. And Smart Vest is our latest addition to this wide range. In addition to a range of ballistic products, we have an established network and affiliates around the world, backed by long term strategic alliances with local as well as global manufacturers.

The Global defence related market seems to be growing at a pace of approx 8% per annum whereas the growth rate is slightly higher for Indian defence related technical textiles i.e. 10-12% per annum. Thanks to the backing of the government, the defence sector has a lot of scope for growth.

Our company specializes in making various high end defence related technical textiles:

Fire retardant

Water proof/ water repellent

Infra red reflective

Multi Spectrum Camouflage ( MSCN)

NBC ( Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) Protective fabrics and suits

Bullet proof jackets and helmets

We are into technological collaboration with some foreign companies for our products like MSCN fabric etc. Otherwise, we have our own in-house innovation, which is our company’s forte; in fact both the Malwan factory and the Shri Lakshmi Defence Solutions Ltd unit are Government (DSIR) recognized “In House R&D Centers”. We have a strong R & D team comprising of Ph Ds, M Techs, Engineers and people having a flair for new product development and Innovation.

Total size of Indian defence market for protective textile is close to US $400 Million per annum and the size of the Global defence market is approx US $4 Billion per annum. At present, we are targeting just the Indian defence market but we do aim to enter the Global defence market in a big way.

Government is already doing its bit by setting up making 12 Centres of Excellences (CoE's) to provide a big boost to the Technical Textile sector in terms of providing testing facilities and all kinds of support and assistance for various kinds of developments in the areas of Technical Textiles like Protech, Meditech, Composites, Mobiltech, Okeotech, Buildtech etc. Moreover passing of ordnance to make use of Technical Textile mandatory for safety work wear in Factories act etc could provide the desired fillip to the Technical textile industry at large. Apart from the above, the govt is keeping alive various government schemes like TUF etc and giving out various grants and supports to boost Innovation and R & D activities, which could go a long way in making our country a Global leader in the area of Technical Textiles.

Shri Lakshmi Group uses a variety of fabric treatments, specialized coatings, laminations or any combination of the above are used to produce fabrics for defence purposes. In some cases, special chemicals/ granules are produced in house like production of ACS (Activated Carbon Spheres) for production of NBC fabric.

We are looking at expanding the defense related activities in the technical textile division and become a major player in India and simultaneously in the overseas market, due to the unique technological superiority and competitive costing.