Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd. was established in 1993 is a leading manufacturer of dyes, dye intermediates, and fertilisers.
Gautam Makharia, Director, Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd is a veteran leader in the industry. He did his graduation in engineering from Bombay University and MBA from the University of Manchester. Gautam was a Six Sigma Auditor. He joined Shree Pushkar in the year 2000. Back then Shree Pushkar was a small company with only Rupees 30 million revenues. At present Shree Pushkar’s revenue is over 6 billion Rupees.
Recently Gautam Makharia, Director and Dr. NN Mahapatra, Business Head (Dyes), Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd. shared their views and future plans with Textile Today.
Textile Today: Would you kindly share Shree Pushkar’s journey with us?
Gautam Makharia: Shree Pushkar initiated the manufacturing of dye intermediates in the year 2000 and dyes in 2015, we have not only extended our portfolio in a horizontal manner but also in the vertical arena. In the span of 23 years, Shree Pushkar has become the fastest growing dyestuffs company in India. The company makes a wide range of products like dyes, dye intermediates, raw materials, acids, basic raw materials. Shree Pushkar is a listed company in the Mumbai Stock Exchange – with a market capitalization of around 7 billion Rupees.
Shree Pushkar has a vision to become a global leader in the area of dyestuff. Hence, we started manufacturing reactive dyes in 2015. Shree Pushkar aims to take care of the environment and the textile industry. So, to achieve the concept of ‘True Sustainability’ we acquired the necessary certificates like bluesign®, GOTS, etc.
Shree Pushkar is one of the only ‘Zero Waste’ global companies. As you know, textile dye intermediate or dyestuff is an environmentally sensitive product – we ensure waste elimination by reusing whatever waste we generate into our other products like fertilizer. Our products use less water and energy and decrease the processing skills in comparison to conventional dyes industry. This has made us much more sustainable compared to our competitors.
Textile Today: Kindly share with us the present reactive dyes capacity and what are your future plans for manufacturing value-added reactive dyes, as well as, share your expansion plan.
Gautam Makharia: Currently we produce 500 tons of dyestuff monthly. Expansion plans are already underway and within the next 4 to 6 months, we have plans to expand the capacity into 1000 tons per month. Within the next 5 years, we would like the company to be more customer-centric providing their demand products and to ensure a one stop dyestuff value chain for the textile industry.
As for value-added reactive dyes, Shree Pushkar prides itself for its R&D and innovation in its products. We are the only manufacturers in the world who provide PCA free vinyl Sulphone. Soon we are going to launch PCA free dyes. Where the PCA content goes as low as 20PPM. Also, we are going to launch low temperature dying products which are in high demand in the global textile industry owing to their less water usage and less discharge.
Textile Today: How do you see the importance of the Bangladesh market for Shree Pushkar? Do you have any plans to establish a reactive dyes manufacturing unit here?
Gautam Makharia: Bangladesh is one of the most important markets for Shree Pushkar and we are looking to grow fast in this market. Having said that, compared to our other competitors, we are relatively new here. So, right now we are focusing on increasing our market share within the next 2 to 3 years. Then we will see and decide according to the market situation, but, currently we don’t have any plan.
Textile Today: Dr. NN Mahapatra you looked after the Bangladesh market for a long time. Kindly share with us the prospect of the Bangladesh market. Also as you know Textile Today innovation hub has been relentlessly promoting sustainable and innovative practices in the textile industry – kindly highlight the importance of such innovation platforms.
Dr. NN Mahapatra: Bangladesh is one of the most important markets in terms of textiles. Global brands and retailers come here to source their fashion products due to its international standard and caliber.
As for Textile Today, it is really sad that we do not find such innovation platforms in India. The way it represents the textile industry–its sustainable and innovative practices, the gap between academia and the industry–is truly amazing.
