Exports now account for about 70% of its turnover

Homegrown fabric maker BSL, formerly Bhilwara Synthetics Ltd, is revamping its domestic operations as it looks to shore up its presence in the country. The plan is to grow both the top-line and the bottom-line.

The company has been a predominant player in the export market — especially for suiting — for West Asia, Latin America and Europe, among others. Furnishing exports is another major vertical where it is seeing good growth, That with IKEA being a major account.

Suiting exports account for 40 per cent of BSL’s turnover while domestic operations account for 20 per cent. Its furnishing business accounts for 25-30 per cent of the turnover.

The BSE-listed company had reported a standalone turnover of ₹441 crore and a net profit of ₹1 crore for FY19. The profits were low primarily on account of high interest payouts and depreciation.

Export growth

According to Nivedan Churiwal, Joint Managing Director, BSL has been witnessing “good growth” across its export verticals. For instance, the furnishing vertical has seen a near 100 per cent growth. This led to a relatively lesser focus on domestic operations, he said.

“When you have different profit segments, not all of them grow at the same pace. We focussed on the export verticals and are now looking at the domestic business for a balanced portfolio,” he told BusinessLine, adding that the company is also scouting for new overseas markets. “A near two- to three-fold growth in turnover from India operations is possible over a two-year period,” he said.

The predominant fabric brands in India now include Raymond, Arvind and Siyaram.

While there are no immediate capex plans for its facilities in Bhilwara (Rajasthan), the domestic business revamp has been implemented over the past 18 months. This includes a marketing push as well as steps to reorganise senior management teams.

Retail presence

BSL aims to be present in 6,000 multi-brand outlets over the next six years, a near four-fold growth against the current 1,500-odd outlets. Apart from ‘BSL’ in the mass and mass premium segments, it sells premium fabrics are under the ‘Geoffrey Hammonds’ brand.

The company is also introducing new fabric offerings at regular intervals. “As of now, we will focus on suiting and (other) fabrics in the domestic market. There is no immediate plan to introduce furnishings,” Churiwal said, adding that unlike its competitors, it doesn’t plan to introduce readymade garments.

Published On : 01-01-2020

Source : The Hindu Businessline