Page 18 - Plastics News September 2020

Centre has distributed 1.28 crore PPE to states, UTs and 1,500 firms have got the certification for coveralls and
central institutions, free of cost,” the ministry said. 2,000 companies for the fabric to be used in the coverall.
Some of the country's textile majors such as Arvind, JCT Grassroot Markmen's Naik said the sector got only a
Mills, The Trident Group, Welspun and Shahi Exports are ministry notification that specified 60 GSM for the fabric,
into manufacturing of the coveralls. Over a thousand which means it will not let any fluid to pass through, and 30
companies have got the technical clearance and GSM for the material used for laminating the fabric. “The
certification to produce PPE kits across the country. only problem for us is getting the required number of
gloves. In India, we don't have units making huge numbers
Reliance Industries had converted its newly acquired like Vietnam or Malaysia,” said Naik.
textiles and apparel fabrics maker Alok Industries into a
PPE manufacturer, helping produce COVID-19 protective He said the manufacturing units seldom faced problems in
gears at one-third the cost of those imported from China. getting raw material supplies for making the kits. “At the
The company has redeployed Alok Industries' most, they could have got delayed by a maximum 48
manufacturing facilities in Silvassa for exclusively hours,” he said. Though PPE kits production is new to
manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) to India, the manufacturing units were smart to ensure that
safeguard doctors, nurses, medical staff and other each of them specialized in one product than go in for
frontline workers engaged in fighting the COVID-19 making a complete PPE kit. Naik said that the demand for
pandemic, sources said. PPE kits is increasing and could scale up if the general
public, too, begins to use them. “We can easily double our
Capacity has been scaled up to produce more than 1 lakh production,” he said, adding that he had never seen such a
PPE kits per day and cost has been slashed to nearly Rs 650 production rise at such a rapid pace even during normal
per unit from the about Rs 2,000 apiece imported price, period.
they said. The facility can also be used for exporting PPE in
future, they added. “Small manufacturing units have turned this business like
anything,” Naik said. SITRA's Rao said though the HLL had
Reliance integrated technology, raw material from its announced covering its requirements, many units
petchem plants and 10,000 tailors after re-engineering continue to apply for certification. “We are getting
the plant. Production started in mid-April and has been between 100 and 150 samples every day for testing. The
quickly ramped up to now constitute close to a fifth of manufacturing units expect to supply the kits to various
India's daily PPE production capacity.
states,” he said and added that the research body collects
Other PPE kit manufacturers include JCT Phagwara, Rs 5,750 for testing and certification as fee. TEA's
Gokaldas Exports, and Aditya Birla Sakthivel said that manufacturing units were quick to
Ashok Naik, head of Delhi-based Grassroot Markmen, said import some 300 machineries from China and South Korea
that there are two aspects to the development of PPE kits. required for making these kits. “Now, we need not worry
“One, no other job was available for us when the nation- about importing machinery as a local manufacturer is
wide lockdown (to curb the spread of Coronavirus) was ready to meet our requirements,” he said. Grassroot
announced. Second, we had to do something and so, we Markmen's Naik, who supplies 6,000 PPE kits a day and has
got into making PPE kits,” he said. supplied 85,000 kits in the last three weeks, said Indian
manufacturers have begun to get enquiries from countries
Naik's firm got a prototype of the coverall made from a
small unit with which it had entered into contract abroad such as Canada and Ghana. “We can be
competitive in price and quality in almost all PPE kit
manufacturing. It sent the sample to DRDO and got its products, barring gloves. People have stopped buying from
clearance and certification within two weeks along with
the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). Today, it can supply China and it also does not have stocks,” said Naik, adding
6,000 PPE kits a day. In the last three weeks, the firm has that Indian manufacturers can match European Union
standards.
supplied 85,000 kits.
TEA Sakthivel said, “We have requests from abroad where
Tiruppur Exporters Association (TEA) Executive Secretary buyers are asking for matching PPE masks along with
S Sakthivel said at least 100 units in the hosiery town were garments. We can export them to the European Union and
involved in making PPE kits. “These units are producing
1.25 lakh to 1.5 lakh pieces (mainly masks) every day. They the US. Units are just waiting to take off,” Sakthivel said.
are supplying to HLL, state governments and even to the SITRA's Rao said Indian PPE kits matched US standards but
when it comes to export to the US and European Union,
private sector,” he said, adding that the opportunity different test parameters would apply. Naik said the
ensured employment for at least 50,000 workers during
the lockdown period. government will have to encourage more small and
medium units to produce PPE kits. “We need more number
SITRA administrator K Sajjan Rao said that the standards of smaller factories because they can also provide huge
for Indian PPE kits were higher at least by two notches employment,” he said.
than the one set by the World Health Organisation. “This is
one reason that the death of frontline workers is less (Courtesy: Swarajyamag)
compared with other countries,” Rao said and added that

September 2020 18 Plastics News