Think textile in India, think Surat! This city in Gujarat has a lot to take pride with its textile industry. As the hub of textile manufacture and trade in India, Surat has produced a number of textile tycoons and one of its biggest successes is Durga Polyesters Pvt. Ltd. (DPPL). Established in 2010 by the ambitious and foresighted father of Mr. Aditya Desai, our interviewee and CEO of the company, Mr. Kunjbihari Sultania, Durga Polyesters, has made noteworthy contributions in the fiercely competitive textile world in Surat as well as the national and international markets.
The areas of expertise for the company are saree, tunics, dresses, etc., which go through a fool-proof seven-chambered finishing process unlike its four-chambered competitors. As Durga Polyesters strives to grow and enhance its business, products, solutions, customer relationships, and industry recognition, they are committed to continually improving the effectiveness of their Quality Management System. They have established quality objectives which they review with timeliness. Raw material and ingredients are checked against requirements to ensure purity, safety and efficacy. Durga Polyesters ensures that products are used appropriately by adhering to safety parameters and identifying potential safety issues. Environmentally responsible operations are undertaken and they work with regulatory authorities around the world to ensure that the environment is protected.
Origin and legacy
Durga Polyester was co-founded by Mr. Vipul Desai and Mr. Kunj Bihari Sultania in 2010. Having worked in Venus Mills himself, Mr. Vipul always possessed the knowledge and ambition to run a textile firm himself. However, owing to the requirement of a huge capital, his ambition had to wait until Mr. Sultania came along as a partner. The immense success in the initial years of the company led to the foundation of the second phase of the business in 2014. Just six years into the trade, the company was able to expand by 120%. Mr. Aditya Desai, a Chemical Engineering graduate has followed his father’s footsteps and taken hold of the company’s reigns by handling almost everything, from production to maintenance.
The company may have been less than a decade old but this hasn’t stopped it from having a professional set-up comprising seven strentor machines by Motex, Lucy and Harshad, 16 flatbed printing machines from Indian Textile Engineers, Ahmadabad, six digital printing machines from Atexco, China, and four sublimation printing machines.
DPPL is the only unit in India to have maximum colours on a printing machine, starting from 18 colours and extending up to 30 colours. The company is also responsible for 2,000 workers and 150 staff members. With a per day capacity of 1,40,000 meters in dyed fabric, 2,00,000 meters in printing and 15,000 meters in digital printing, Durga Polyesters still has potential remaining to be tapped. They specialize in job work and most of their resources are occupied with catering to the local and national customers but indirectly, their textile has also reached the likes of Zara, JC Penny and Wal-Mart.
DPPL also comprises of PLC-based jets and drums and state-of-the-art airflow machines, because of which it has been successful in maintaining an average Material Liquor Ratio (MLR) of less than 2 L/m.
Other endeavors
In 2016, a pristine and revolutionary concept materialized in the form of Nature Tech Environ Protection by the Desais and Mr. Anil Fatehpuria. This company’s aim is to provide a complete range of environmental solutions for industries. They provide biological as well as tertiary treatments such as ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, etc., to industries. Even before the Supreme Court issued policies and laws mandating environmental-friendly operations by industries, Durga Polyesters was already spending a huge amount on CEPT treatment of its waste water, which is a clear indicator of the company’s environment-friendly orientation.
By 2020, the aim of Durga Polyesters is to make a constructive shift from its 100% polyester orientation to cotton job works. Expansion in digital printing, up to 10 lack meters a month, is also on the cards owing to its time-efficiency and water-saving capacity in contrast with other forms of printing. The mechanical set-up of the company is also scheduled to an upgrade in the upcoming year.
Durga Polyesters has escalated rapidly from a single man’s dream to the provider of 2000+ workers in just a matter of 8 prosperity-filled years. Accompanied by their remarkable automation systems and an environmentally sustainable outlook, this family legacy is in the textile game to stay. The company maintains that in its plans of expansion, it will never give up its long-standing and successful association with A.T.E., their solution providers a miss.