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Welspun India geared up for 2018, and beyond
The impact of policy changes in the last one year are being felt by every segment of the industry and even a market leader in Home Textiles like Welspun has shown a decline in its earnings in the third-quarter of FY 2017-18. The(-) 7.6 % decline in total income at Welspun India Ltd.( WIL), part of the US $ 2.3 billion Welspun Group, has been attributed to a volume decline in business due to customer destocking coupled with GST impact on duty drawback. Yet, the company is very optimistic of business in 2018.“ We have been taking steps to be prepared for the future – in terms of our brands, channels, innovations, traceability solutions, sustainability initiatives and so many other areas. We believe we have built a solid foundation and are ready to enter the next trajectory,” says B. K. Goenka, Chairman, Welspun Group.
Welspun India is one of the world’ s leading home textile manufacturers and one among the largest home textiles exporters to the US. The global footprint covers markets in the US, Canada, UK, Europe and Japan. To better service its clients, the company has a distribution network in more than 50 countries and supplies to 17 of the Top 30 global retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, Costco, Kohl’ s, Walmart and Macy’ s, to name a few.“ We are the suppliers of choice for top retail stores across the world, which reflects our determination to deliver quality at our best. We continuously undertake product improvement projects for enhancing overall customer engagement experience and ensuring consistency between all service interfaces,” says Dipali Goenka, CEO and Joint Managing Director, Welspun India Ltd.
The company proudly proclaims to be a customer-centric organisation that aims to consistently deliver on the promise of excellence. In this endeavour, WIL has made many interesting investments that will add value to the business this year which includes a new state-of-the art warehousing facility in the US East Coast for future-ready supply chain.
Building in Traceability …
The most important of such investments is the launch of a patented, end-to-end traceability process – Wel-Trak™. This revolutionary and industry-defining process ensures that customers and consumers can trace the provenance of the cotton raw materials throughout the supply chain from farm to the retail shelf.“ All our customers across the globe are very excited about Wel-Trak™, as it is a unique concept for the textile industry. Having a mechanism in place that will enable them to track the source of the final product right back to the specific farm it comes from, definitely adds value and transparency to the whole process,” avers Dipali.
Taking the traceability commitment to an even higher level, Welspun has also entered into a tie-up with Oritain Global Ltd., a world leader in the use of scientific traceability to determine provenance of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and now extended to cotton fibre. This partnership
28 Apparel Online India | APRIL 1-15, 2018 | www. apparelresources. com