Technical textile is one of the emerging field and there is lot of scope for growth
Prashant Group of companies, established in 1975 is one of India’s leading textile machinery manufacturers. The group has made its mark on the industry since last almost 5 decades and is continuously growing. Group had initiated its business under different European & US Joint ventures to provide world class technology at appropriate price. Amoli Shah, Director, Prashant Group, describes the current state of the textile engineering segment and how her company is contributing to it.
Kindly brief us about your company.
Spread across more than 100000 sq metre area, Prashant Group has ultra-modern infrastructure to manufacture complete range of weaving preparatory machinery. R&D is the core competency of Prashant Group.
Our Complete product range include
- High tech sectional warpers and creels
- Automatic robotic sectional warper
- Sizing machine, direct warper, V creel and H creel for spun, jute, filament and fibre glass
- Denim preparation equipment
- Indigo rope dyeing and sheet dyeing with revolutionary nitro technology
- Poly-Beamer and unrolling creel for PP and HDPE tapes
- Single end sizing
- Beam to beam rolling machine
- Motorised and manually warp beam handling system
- Computerised vertical beam storage system
- Batching motion, Inspection and packaging machine
We are catering to weavers of various types of textiles/fabrics segments such as yarn dyed Shirting, Suiting, Technical textile, Home furnishing, Denim, silk and specialised fabric manufacturing.
Prashant group is having satisfied customer base in more than 50 countries worldwide.
How was the performance of the company in 2023-24?
FY 23-24 was a year of break through development for Prashant Group. We added few new products to our portfolio. We introduced second generation nitro chamber for Indigo Dyeing machine. This is our patented technology, and results are excellent.
As a pioneer in weaving preparatory machinery, Prashant group is known for its innovative products. This second generation nitro chamber saves water consumption by around 60 per cent, chemical consumption by around 15-20 per cent, reduced power consumption and saving in running cost is significant. Moreover, this is a sustainable green technology and we are getting much better sheds of indigo with lower number of dyeing chambers.
Another important development was advanced direct warper machine for fibre glass. Normally , sizing process is must for fibre glass, but the way we have developed this direct warper, sizing process is avoided for certain range of yarns. This is significant saving in terms of cost, space, manpower and utility.
We also developed specialised creel for very heavy deniers used in technical textile.
Thus, year 2023-24 was a milestone year in terms of new successful developments for Prashant Group
What is your view on the current status of the Indian textile & apparels (T&A) industry?
Indian textile and apparels industry is on continuous growth path in terms of latest technologies and automation, compared to other developing countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, etc.
Technical textile is one of the emerging field and there is lot of scope for growth.
As a Textile machinery manufacturer, philosophy of Prashant Group has been always to “Provide world class technology at appropriate price.” Our R&D team is always busy developing latest technology to make our machine sustainable and smart.
Indian weavers are upgrading their machinery to compete with the world market.
Not only the corporate sector, but decentralised sector is also upgrading themselves with latest technology. Surat, Ichalkaranji, Panipat, Bhilwara, Erode are such clusters where we can see lot of upgradation.
So Indian T &A Industry is definitely on the right growth path.
How critical is the role of the textile engineering segment (which includes textile machineries and other auxiliary equipment) in the success of the Indian T&A industry?
Textile machinery segment is very important in the success of Indian T&A industry. If we talk about textile machinery industry, India has good machinery manufacturer for spinning, processing, finishing and weaving preparatory. But there is lot of scope for improvement for high speed weaving looms. We do not have any weaving machine producer who can produce high speed airjet looms in India.
Prashant group is the ONLY group in India to provide complete range of weaving preparation textile machinery.
When high tech domestic machinery manufacturer is present in India, Textile manufacturer can get machines at competitive rates and get benefits of local service.
In Prashant Group, we have regional service network all over the India and in most cases, we provide service on the same day. This is very important factor.
When we have latest technology, within India, then that will play an important role in the growth of textile and Apparel industry.
What gives your company a competitive edge in the market? Which are the key factors contributing to the success of your company?
Prashant Group is enjoying number 1 position in the market for weaving preparatory segment. There are many reason behind the same.
At Prashant Group, all the activities were initiated under joint venture or technical collaboration with known European and American companies. This is how we got the head start. At Prashant, R & D is a major activity. We have trained team whose focus is to develop latest technology and features to enhance the capabilities of our machine.
Currently our machines are made with Artificial intelligence, it has been adapted to Industry 4.0 automation.
We have complete infrastructure to make the mechanical parts of our machine. Our work shop is equipped with latest Laser cutting machine, Plasma cutting machine, CNC bending machine, Multi axis robotic welding machine, VMC machining centre, Lathe machine, drilling machine, milling machine and many more. So, all critical parts are manufactured in our workshop under close monitoring. Due to this, our quality is at par with European products.
We have developed many products which no other Indian companies have. For example, our Robotic sectional warping machine is Asia’s fastest robotic machine, where leasing operation is completely automatic. Highest level of automation is used in designing this machine where one can get 50 per cent higher production with reduced space, reduced man power as well as saving in yarn inventory.
We have a range of machinery to cater to woven technical textile field. Our Poly beamer with unrolling creel has the highest productivity and user friendly design for making warp beams from PP and HDPE flat tape for Geo Textiles application.
Our indigo dyeing range with Nitro Technology is a patented technology, where user can benefited with more than 50 per cent in water saving, 15-20 per cent chemical saving, about 30 per cent in space saving and much reduced running expense. This is the sustainable technology which is the need of an hour.
We carefully select only the ‘best in class components’ for all our machines to ensure its reliability & productivity. We always strive for continuous development. Our reputation is built on several strong values, like Innovation, Quality, Automation, and Service. Key to our strong position in Exports as well as in Domestic market is “passion for exceeding customer expectations”
Our vision & innovation, propels our customers as leaders in their field. Our service back up has been excellent to keep our customers delighted and our repeat purchase ratio has remained extremely high. Due to continuous improvement in Technology & Automation, we have increased our market share substantially in domestic as well as export markets.
What is the contribution of exports to your business? How do you intend to scale up exports?
Export is a major part of our business. Prashant group is exporting to over 50 countries worldwide.
In recent times, there has been a significant growth in our exports of various machines such as Sectional Warpers, Sizing & Warping machines. There has also been a spurt in exports of our Denim range of machines which includes Indigo Sheet & Rope Dyeing, Ball Warpers, Long Chain Beamers, and Beam to cone winder machines.
In western countries, customer are more focused on automation and sustainability. This has helped us in gaining major market share for some of our products like our Robotic sectional warping machine. Our machine Model PB-9 is world’s fastest robotic Sectional Warper with features like automatic lease insertion system, endless warping & highest productivity.
We offer the latest ‘Nitrogen chamber’ technology in our dyeing range which enhances dye penetration to produce denim fabric with deeper shades, with less number of dye trough.
To further increase our export, we regularly participate in ITMA as well as other important regional exhibition.
In the highly competitive global market for textile machinery, the consumer preference will tilt towards quality, productivity, price advantage and trouble-free performance. That is one of the reasons for our success in export market.
Are government initiatives like Make in India (AtmaNirbhar Bharat), ATUFS, etc yielding a positive effect? What more can the government do for the growth of Indian T&A and textile engineering industries?
Government is working on different schemes to boost textile industry’s growth since more than 2 decades. We have witnessed different schemes from central and state government and that has been helpful so far.
The industry has got boost with the Initiative such as Make In India (Atma Nirbhar Bharat). However, with pending renewal of ATUFS, the expansion program or investment plans of various manufacturing units have got impacted. Industry anticipates further support from the ministry of textiles as well as state government policy so that apart from the existing players, new generation players also participate in investment plan for setting up the textile units.
What are your growth plans for the company in 2024-25 & 2025-26?
Continuous growth is the motto of Prashant Group. FY 24-25 & 25-26, our focus will be on adding few more products for technical textile. we are also targeting new export markets for the products which we have developed in last few years.
Our focus will be on sustainable technology and we plan to launch this technology in India and western countries as well.
Prashant group has always focused on providing world class technology at appropriate price. We are committed for the same in future also.
