While the objective of retirement is to dwell a simple, gradual, and peaceable life, the case was totally completely different for entrepreneur Dwarka Prasad Mangal. At 62 in 2010, Mangal was retired, bursting with vitality, and needed to do one thing at a massive scale. “I did not want to do the regular consulting work,” he tells SMBStory.
This is when he determined to give entrepreneurship a shot. Having labored in the textile trade for a number of years, together with in corporations comparable to Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills, Jagatjit Cotton Textile Mills and extra, Mangal determined to zero in on this trade to debut into the enterprise market. This is how cotton yarn producer, Lagnam Spintex, got here into existence.
In 2010, he shifted his base from Delhi to Bhilwara, Rajasthan to arrange a unit to manufacture ring yarn and open-finish yarn. A complete of Rs 31 crore was invested to begin the enterprise, and in accordance to Mangal, he contributed about 30 % of the quantity, and the relaxation was financed by a financial institution.
However, he admits the transfer was not straightforward. “It was tough since I put my life’s earnings into the business. Also, shifting from Delhi to Bhilwara, which is not as developed, was not easy,” he says.
The shift, he additional provides, was harder for his elder son, Anand Mangal. “Anand was born and raised in Delhi. He also lived in London for a couple of years. But we were determined to make our project a success.”
Anand studied at the University of Bradford and labored with ICICI Bank for a couple of years earlier than becoming a member of the enterprise in 2012.
The industrial manufacturing began in 2012 with 960 open-finish rotors. The firm clocked Rs 35 crore that 12 months. They additionally began exporting to Europe from 2013 onwards and expanded to different nations. Today, 55 % of the manufacturing is exported to nations comparable to Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Columbia, China, Bangladesh and extra. Bangladesh, Mangal highlights, is the firm’s largest market.
As the manufacturing expanded, Lagnam Spintex added 480 rotors in 2014 in the identical unit and one other 480 in 2015.
India and the market
According to a report by Statista, cotton has the largest share of yarn manufacturing in India, and cotton yarn has a market share of 71 %. Additionally, the textile and attire trade contributes about 2.three % to the GDP. What’s extra, India is one among the largest producers of textile yarn in the world.
Lagnam exports to a number of nations all through the world and its cotton yarn is especially used whereas making jeans, terry towels, backside wears, dwelling textiles, industrial materials and extra.
Moreover, important revenues of the firm come from the world market. This 12 months, Mangal says he expects a turnover of Rs 325 crore, of which Rs 180 crore might be from exports.
How have they been in a position to chart this progress journey?
By counting on know-how and specializing in at all times conserving the high quality of the yarn unmatchable, he says.
He provides that the manufacturing facility, over the years, has additionally automated a number of manufacturing processes to guarantee impeccable high quality and ease in logistics, and the equipment is exported from completely different nations comparable to Germany, Switzerland, and Spain.
At current, Lagnam has put in 1,920 rotors, and 25,536 spindles, producing 35 tonnes of yarn every single day. In 2018, the firm additionally bought listed on National Stock Exchange’s SME platform. This 12 months it migrated to the major platform of NSE.
COVID-19 influence and the street forward
Terming the COVID-19 pandemic a nightmare, Mangal remembers that the manufacturing unit was fully shut for shut to a month between March and April in 2020, which resulted in losses in the subsequent few quarters. Labour scarcity additionally added to the woes of the firm as a number of employees had fled cities to their hometowns.
Mangal provides that the firm was in a position to survive due to the exports. “The demand in India was zero as nobody was stepping out. In the global market, there was disruption but there was no dearth of demand.”
Mangal factors out that the pandemic has modified a lot of issues however the largest change it has led to is the notion amongst world sellers and consumers that an in-particular person assembly is vital to preserve the enterprise going.
“Earlier the mindset of the buyer was that the seller needs to meet him or her in person to build a relationship but that is no longer true,” he says, including that his worldwide enterprise journeys have decreased significantly, thanks to digital technique of interplay.
Going ahead, the entrepreneur’s plan is to proceed to increase its presence throughout the world and penetrate deeper into the markets it’s current. The enterprise can be on the path of restoration. “The months between October 2020 and March 2021 played a role in recovering the business,” he concludes.
