The importance of safety equipment is more now than ever before. Your views of this?
If you talk about regulations, the laws have always been there. It is the awareness of people that has risen over the last few years. When compared to the western world, people in India still don’t value the importance of workplace accidents and somehow importance of human lives. Post Covid, I personally believe that PPE as a term is widely spread now but they only associate this term with the disposable coverall, for most of them PPE is still not safety harnesses or safety footwear but just the so called "PPE Kit" available in the market.
Can you please share with us the performance of your Organisation in the last three years (ie) pre-Covid-19, in Covid-19 and post relaxation in lockdown?
Pre Covid, in the last three years, our company has grown at a rate of 500% in total. This shows the growth of the market in general. During the lockdown, because the demand was for the disposable coveralls, we improvised and started to manufacture the same. We OEM for one of the largest companies in our industry and manufactured for the Government of India. Post relaxation, the demand is huge, however, with the second wave turning up, things are on a slow for a bit.
The ongoing Pandemic and its impacts are going to last for atleast a year or two. What strategies have you adapted to adjust with the ‘New Normal’ and get going with the business as usual?
I believe for an organisation like ours, we really needed this time to re-evaluate our strategies and missions. In the last year, we have focused more on development of new products and adding them into our range increasing our product portfolio. One division of our company is also working on a new project where we can use technology to reduce the gap between the manufacturer and end users.
Which are the emerging growth drivers for the PPE sector?
Awareness and importance, period. India has one of the highest workforce in the world, what else would you need. Imagine a scenario where over 50 crore people are wearing PPE at work.
You take on healthcare as an emerging growth driver for the PPE sector?
Surely it has help spread the word PPE. Pre-covid, no one knew what PPE was. Medical although is still one part of the entire PPE range. PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment which covers a huge range of products for different industries covering everything from head to toe.
How much market share you command and what would be your strategy to increase your market share?
The majority of the market share is covered by counterfeit products or "Others" if you call it. We have been listed as one of the Top Fall Protection Manufactures in the World. However, there is no authentic data to prove the same. To increase market share, we are focusing on building our product portfolio and partnering with other manufacturers to build our basket of products. In the next 10 years, our target is to go all out on sales and gather as much share as we can. 2021-2030 is the decade of growth for Uviraj and its brands.
Please share with us the PPE you offer for the infra construction and real estate industry? How do these PPEs help in preventing fatal accidents?
We specialise into height safety products like safety harnesses, lanyards, fall arresters, self retracting lifelines, anchorages, ropes, etc, to name a few. These products are mandatory for people working at heights. One-third of all fatal accidents at construction sites are directly or in-directly involved with height safety. Either the equipment is not properly used or things are dropped from a certain height resulting in various kinds of injuries. Our products and solutions help this minimise to 0 if used properly.
When it comes to safety the awareness in India is still in its nascent stage. What are the awareness and training (also include skill development) programmes you conduct? How helpful are these awareness and training programmes?
Safety awareness, in general, in India is not much. However, every second this is improving. Various kinds of trainings are provided by Uviraj either at our own premises or on work sites. We have a special training centre where we provide trainings for workers to understand how the product is used.
Counterfeit PPE are freely available in the market. How are you securing your products against counterfeiting?
By investigating into breach of IP. Various rackets have been busted in the past and more the awareness, better the understanding for the end consumer. We have a system where even if the product comes back to us 5 years down the line, we can easily trace out its details. We have a specialised webbing on all our harnesses that can help us easily identify if the product has been made at our facility or not.
How do you see the economy, opportunities and challenges in this pandemic situation and please give us a brief idea about the strategies outlined to tap in the future potentials?
With the way that the world has changed in the last year, I believe improvisation on a daily basis is the only strategy where we need to adopt to the new normal. This is a great time for young entrepreneurs to tap into the market to identify the current problems and work towards solving the same.
