Suditi takes a giant step

Suditi Industries had 300 people working when it all began two decades ago, but now the workforce has swelled to 1,200.
In a matter of two decades Suditi Industries Ltd, located in the Pawana Village of Turbhe in Navi Mumbai has made rapid strides since its humble beginning sometime in 1992. Today Suditi has introduced a variety of materials ´ from cotton, polyamide to silk, wool, modal, denim, and anything the consumer desires. Knitted denims is the latest area that Suditi has entered. ´In the past two years, we have found that knitted denim is the in-thing for the modern generation because the fabric gives a lot of comfort. Stretchability is good with some addition of spandex yarn. We have our designers for men and women wear. Our brand RIOT has become so successful that now you will find it in some important malls,´ said R Chinraj, President of Suditi Industries Ltd, while speaking to the Editor, The Indian Textile Journal, in an exclusive interview.

´Suditi Industries became operational in 1993. It was a time knits were used only for inner and undergarments. That too those fabrics were produced by Ludhiana-made machines. Most of the fabrics were coming from either Tirupur or Ludhiana. Very low-cost inner garments were made. Then Ludhiana started making garments for winter, a little heavier cloth, knitted with acrylic or wool. When we started with imported machines form Switzerland and Taiwan, we began with 12-tonne capacity. We were the biggest. Then only more industries came into knitting with sophisticated technologies,´ said Chinraj.

?Suditi Industries initially had a facility at Dubai for sewing and garmenting. These final garments were exported to Europe. This arrangement was going on for three years. After this arrangement started faltering, we began doing its here from 1993 to 1998. By 2000 we closed the Dubai factory and started selling fabrics to other parties. Domestic exporters started sourcing fabrics from us. After that we also began to upgrade our facilities here with Santex and Sclavos machines, which were high-end models. That time, we used 150 litres of water per kg, but now with more sophisticated machines this has come down to 60 litres of water,´ Chinraj told the Editor.

Suditi Industries had 300 people working when it all began two decades ago, but now the workforce has swelled to 1,200. Said Chinraj: ´In knitting we have Mayer & Cie machines. Besides, we have some Vanguard Supreme machines from the U.S. We also have four Shima Seiki machines. Other machines include Tajima for embroidery and MHM, Austria for printing.´

In fibres, apart from cotton, Suditi Industries uses plenty of viscose. ´We have an arrangement for a regular supply of viscose from Grasim. We get some latest from Reliance too. Cotton yarn, we purchase from Pratibha Syntex and Century. One area in which we have been planning investment is spinning. But because of fluff and pollution, we cannot start a plant near Navi Mumbai. Now, we have a proposal to launch a spinning unit somewhere in Surendranagar. We are importing Pima and Giza cotton for some of our needs,´ said Chinraj.

Suditi Industries is equipped with all sorts of Eco certificates to cater to the markets in the West. Chinraj has done a lot of initial work in technical textiles including geotextiles and even garments for Khargil soldiers. ´I went even to meet Defence Minister, Our trials were successful. But there were no progress from the Government side. Three years I put up a lot of efforts towards promoting technical textiles. But I sincerely feel that this will not happen at a short time in India. We spent a lot on R&D, but all was lost. Still India is only importing such fabrics and there is not much happening on our domestic front,´ said Chinraj.

Said Chinraj: ´Indian industry can d