Established in 1997 as a JV of Eduard Kústers Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG (EKK) of Germany and Calico Industrial Engineers (Calico) of India, Kústers Calico Machinery Pvt Ltd (KCMPL) manufactures and installs the most affordable and excellent machines to the textile processing industry. At present it is a group company of JAGENBERG AG, Germany. Kústers-Calico is a joint venture between Kústers of Germany and Calico Engineering of Baroda, Gujarat. In an interview with ITJ´s Senior Sub Editor Karthik Muthuveeran, Saurabh Sinha, Manager´Marketing & PR of Kústers Calico Machinery Pvt Ltd, said, ´Kústers-Calico came into existence in 1997. All the concepts and technologies are from Kústers of Germany and manufacturing set up is in Baroda. We sell the products to the world from our Baroda unit. However, Mumbai is our global head of manufacturing.´
Kústers-Calico has been focusing on knitted fabrics, dyeing for knit fabrics, and machines for knit machines. The company manufactures for the textile processing ranges such as singeing, de-sizing, bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, print washing and others for both woven and knits. It also manufactures machinery for flexible packaging industry for processing of aluminium foil, plastic film and paper in technical collaboration with polytype of Switzerland.
Previously, Kústers-Calico was having agent network (A.T.E. Enterprises) in India, and used to sell it to the Indian market. But now, the company doesn´t have A.T.E. as its agent. They sell it directly. However, the company has agents outside India.
Speaking about the current market condition of the Indian textile industry, Sinha said, ´Textile industry [as of now] is not investing much in new technologies. As far as processing in concerned, it all depends on government regulations. It is important that the government comes out with a real policy on environment wherein there is compulsion on fabric manufacturers to use processing machines which they have been avoiding.´ He added, ´As far as organised processing is concerned, they are much more efficient than unorganised sector. Once policy comes into picture, then there is a lot of scope for processing machines. We see a lot of opportunity in India since it is still in nascent stage.´
´South America, Argentina, Turkey, Indonesia and Thailand are our primary markets wherein we sell our products,´ avers Sinha. ´In fact, we are leaders in some of the places. Indonesian market is picking up, but our Indian market is a bit limited. We have sold our products to various companies including Arvind, Bhaskar Denim, LNJ, etc.,´ he added.
In the last 14 years, the company has supplied state-of-the-art machines to several reputed textile mills in India such as Arvind Mills, Premier Mills, NSL Textiles, Dinesh Mills, Lovely Fabrics, S Kumar´s, Bombay Dyeing, Raymond Ltd, Century Textiles, Bhilwara, Soma Textiles, Hanung Textile, Asarwa Mills, LNJ Denim and many more. Kústers Calico has exported machines to Turkey, China, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries.
Speaking about the expansion plans, Sinha said, ´We may venture in some countries which we have not touched upon, particularly the African markets. We are evaluating every possibility for expansion. We may add machines in sectors like in plastic processing.´
´I think denim industry will be the one to look out for,´ said Sinha with a positive look on his face. ´The entire industry is optimistic about next year,´ he said.
Saurabh Sinha can be contacted at:
ssinha@kuesters-calico.com