– Neel Achary, Editor-in-chief, Business News This Week
An Interview with Mr Vinod Kumar Gupta, Managing Director of Dollar Industries Limited on the Company’s performance in Covid Pandemic and FY21-22.
Dollar Industries Limited has come across a long path by making remarkable changes in the hosiery realm since its inception as Bhawani Textiles by Shri Din Dayal Gupta in 1972-73. At present, the company has become one of the leading brands in the hosiery sector with an enviable 15% market share in the organised market and a significant percentage in textile exports of the total production in the Indian hosiery market.
What has been the growth of your company if we talk about this financial year post lockdown?
The Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most challenging aspects of the textile industries and for us at Dollar Industries Limited it was no exception. As one of the leading hosiery companies in India, Dollar has constantly evolved with the changing trends by upgrading its manufacturing processes and adapting to the ‘New Normal’ as the key to sustenance.
Additionally, digitization has become a growth catalyst for a number of sectors. We at Dollar also realize the extreme potential of digital platforms and are constantly strengthening our digital presence via social media and e-commerce platforms.
To ensure stability in our operations and to stay connected with our channel partners, we opted for digital and telephonic mode of transactions post lockdown. This ensured that our products are constantly available to our end consumers and there is no demand-supply gap..
During this financial year we ensured that our growth is not hampered and we kept a clear focus on digital process implementation or upgradation of our internal digital platforms to smoothen our operations. We undertook the following digitalisation initiatives to enhance our outputs:
o Digital Distribution Management system
o Sales force automation system
o Auto replenishment system
Throw some light on the prevalent demand condition for innerwear and athleisure wear. How do you see the market growing and how do you stand to benefit?
With a growth rate of 12% – 14% year on year, innerwear segment has witnessed consistent demand. Being in the basic necessity segment, undergarments are considered to be a ‘second skin’ and therefore, the demand cannot end.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, athleisure has gained popularity and the demand is here to stay. Consumers resisted buying new clothes and swapped formal & occasion wear with comfort clothing as the situation prompted them to spend more time indoors. Around 7% of our total turnover is coming from the athleisure segment. Since athleisure is a relatively new category for us, we also intend to enhance our product portfolio further.
How the company as well as the industry performed this financial year 2021-22?
Firstly, we at Dollar Industries Limited have successfully launched our first-ever exclusive brand outlet in Ayodhya, a one-stop destination for all Dollar products, catering to the hosiery needs of men, women, and kids. The plush store houses a wide array of products such as briefs, vests, leggings, socks & athleisure under the brands – Bigboss, Missy, NXT, and Athleisure.
Secondly, we also signed a joint venture agreement with G.O.A.T Brand Labs Pte. Limited, a multinational company incorporated under the laws of Singapore, for a shareholding of Pepe Jeans Innerfashion Private Limited after Pepe India expressed its desire to exit from Pepe Innerfashion.
Dollar has been able to align itself with its growth trajectory as we have witnessed a greater demand for our products in the market. We have witnessed volume growth in Q3FY22 around 11 % and 14% in Nine Month FY22.
How are you planning growth for the coming financial year?
We have taken up an initiative called ‘Project Lakshya’ where we are working to increase the reach and range in the market in the areas where our direct presences through distributors are low or negligible. At present, the project is being implemented in 5 States – Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telengana. Further, we are focussing on the increase of Distributor’s in the areas where the company is not having its direct reach.
Moreover, we have also commissioned a 4 MV solar power plant which has the capacity of generating 75 lakh power units annually at our manufacturing facility at Tirupur as a part of ‘Green Mission’.
We also have plans to launch our brassiere segment which will expand the Missy portfolio and in the coming months, we would launch more exclusive brand outlets in different parts of the country.
We are hopeful of doubling Dollar’s turnover to 2,000 crores in the next three to four years.
Do you also operate outside of Bengal? Do you have any plans for further expansion?
Dollar Industries Limited has extensively penetrated across 29 states in India. Not only that, the products have also gone beyond the boundaries of the country and has emerged as the highest selling Indian innerwear brand in the UAE and the Middle East, marking its presence in places like Oman, Basra, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria and U.A.E. Having fused its position in Gulf countries the company is now assertively looking at the rest of the world with collections that promise to delineate the string.
We have a nationwide network of representatives and distributors pan India. Our seamless network helps us in making our products available to our consumers in every corner of the country.