UCC Card Clothing: A Strong Manufacturing Base Will Help Us Gain Double-Digit Market Share

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UCC Card Clothing: A Strong Manufacturing Base Will Help Us Gain Double-Digit Market Share

The southern India spinning sector is in a state of flux. Has that impacted UCC card clothing?

Not really. Ours is a replacement product and its usage is strictly restricted over a period of time. The customers can stretch the replacement by a few months. But they will necessarily have to opt for a change within a maximum time of a year. And since we operate countrywide, we always have demand for our products and thus can have a healthy sustenance.

How is competition in your segment?

There are almost 10 key players, including us in this segment. Two domestic suppliers, two-three European suppliers, two- three suppliers from China. But the market is comfortable and there is enough room for everybody to manage their own share.

What makes you distinct in this league?

We have got a strong manufacturing and technology background, European machinery and a very stable and well equipped technical team. This combination of equipment, technology and the team distinguishes us from the rest and definitely we have a high success rate in the card clothing market.

The success accounts for how much market share for UCC card clothing?

At present we are basking with a market share of 8-10%, which we are aiming to stretch further in the forthcoming years. But maintaining a double digit share is definitely what we are looking at. We are a growing company indeed.

Which markets do you operate in mostly?

We operate nationwide. We have around 15 selling agents within the country itself. We have a good market Share in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey. Initially we have had to face some hiccups owing to the acceptance of the products. Once that was set to pace, we hardly had to look back. And we constantly keep getting repeat orders too.

Do you look at China as a prospective market for you?

Yes. The Chinese are bringing cheap quality to the Indian market but are getting higher acceptance owing to the fact that people want something new. Even we want to venture out to the Chinese market. We are already talking to sellers there to establish a stronghold. We can expect a strong business ground in another year or two.

How innovative do you get with your product range? What is your USP?

We want to be among the top end suppliers in the market. We make sure we position ourselves innovatively; we experiment a lot with the new machines and position our products using a lot of these newer breeds. Our tryst is towards maintaining a good price-performance ratio for the customer. Even though the market does not define this ratio quantitatively, we want to derive a numerical implication for the same. So that the customer knows they are getting X amount of yield after paying X amount of price. We are until now able to describe the same qualitatively and always try to maintain a competitive ratio.

What new can we expect from you in ITMA?

We have created a range of products for ITMA, 2015 and would be showcasing the same at both Milan and India ITME Mumbai, 2016. We are going to put up the latest generation of card clothing products for show. And we are eyeing ITMA this year in two ways. Primarily to meet the prospective top end clients in the business, with whom at the exhibition we can have a one to one conversation and secondly we want to meet more selling agents at ITMA, who can then connect us to more customers within their market.

In context of the 'Make in India' initiative, what reform do you want the government to make to support the in-house manufacturing?

The government should reduce taxation on trade. When we visit other countries, we see a fair play in this perspective. But here we pay such heavy custom duties and trade prices, that at times it proves a little too much.

What according to you is the future of this industry?

The future is definitely hopeful. In the next two-three years the spinning segment is going to see a smooth growth. Even though there are market fluctuations, but owing to the nature of this industry there is definitely potential for growth.