Grasim Industries aims 3-pronged strategy to maintain top position

Grasim Industries, the textile maker of Aditya Birla Group is preparing a three pronged strategy to maintain its top position in the market as well as fight volatility in the global economy, reported ET.

Dilip Gaur, MD of the company said they have managed to ensure a steady supply of viscose staple fiber when demand was at a high after a stagnant market for four years. The company ramped up its manufacturing plant in Vilayat, Gujarat, which helped them meet the rising demand for fiber.

Grasim, the Kumar Mangalam Birla-owned is the largest producer of VSF a man-made, biodegradable fiber with characteristics similar to cotton in the world with a 16 per cent market share globally and 90 per cent in the domestic terrain.

"We managed to create a sustainable demand to handle the volatility better and plan to move people away from commodity fiber (cotton, viscose) to specialty fiber," said Gaur.

Grasim's VSF plants are located at Nagda in Madhya Pradesh, Kharach and Vilayat in Gujarat, Ganjam in Orissa and Harihar in Karnataka.

Now, the company plans to produce the '4th generation' of fabric, which is a specialty fabric like modal, micro modal, spun-dyed fibres. These are bio-based textiles made from reconstituted cellulose of beech tree.

"We are focusing on pushing the value up and moving from just VSF to more specialties. You can keep adding capacity, but we want more bang for the buck," said Gaur.

This research has being done at its Taloja centre; Pune and the company had invested Rs 150 crore on it last year.