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Indian cleaning industry is poised for 30% annual growth
Interviews- Jul 01,18
With rising awareness about hygiene across industries, there is increasing demand for cleaning equipment in India.
With rising awareness about hygiene across industries, there is increasing demand for cleaning equipment in India. Roots Multiclean Ltd, the pioneers of mechanised cleaning equipment in India, is all set to fulfill this demand with its wide range of products - right from the simple domestic mops to the high-end airport runway sweepers. In conversation with IPF’s Sripathy B, Roots Multiclean’s Managing Director Varun Karthikeyan analyses the cleaning equipment market in India, and shares the company’s impressive track record and aggressive growth plan.
When it comes to cleaning industry in India, Roots Multiclean is a well-established brand. How has been the journey so far?
Roots Multiclean Ltd was established in 1992 which is more than 25 years back. When we started off back then, it was very tough for us to sell the concept of mechanised cleaning. People always felt that, they could employ workers and do the same job manually at a cheaper cost. For many years we were struggling a lot.
The cost of a sale in those days was very high. We had to do quite a bit of demonstrations to realise a single sale, as people were not aware of the concept then. But we always knew that things will slowly turn around and that people will realise mechanisation is the only way forward to ensure proper cleanliness. Now, things are completely different. We don’t have to sell the concept anymore and everyone knows about cleaning equipments and its advantages.
It will be fair to say that we were the pioneers in introducing the concept of mechanised cleaning in India and it was well worth the struggle.
How is the cleaning industry shaping up in India?
India being one of the fastest growing economies in the world with a GDP of more than 7%, be it manufacturing, automobiles, infrastructure, hospitality or healthcare, there are abundant investments in every segment.
From electric mobility to mobile handsets, many new facilities are being set up every day. All these facilities require cleaning solutions to maintain their hygiene standards and to provide a safe work environment. With over 360 malls & about 100 airports coming up in the next few years, the evolving Indian cleaning industry is poised to grow by at least 30 per cent every year.
The demand for industrial cleaning equipment will only keep growing more and more. This is one of the reasons why all the international players are present in India today.
With international players showing interest in this growing industry, how does Roots Multiclean differentiate it in tackling the challenges from these global players?
Being pioneers in this field, we have introduced mechanised cleaning in the country 25 years back, when manual cleaning was the order of the day. This first mover advantage gave us a lot of learning. Initially we used to import and sell most of the equipments. But we faced a lot of challenges, right from the cost of ownership to the spare parts planning. It was increasingly becoming unviable for the customer. We realised this early on and have been investing and focusing extensively in designing and manufacturing products suited for the tough Indian conditions. Therefore our machines demand less service and spares over their lifetime, ensuring optimum cost of ownership.
With over 30 design engineers working full throttle, we are now producing products from mops to road sweepers, completely designed and manufactured by us, in-house.
We have invested heavily in state of the art equipment’s needed for in-house manufacturing of our products. Today, Roots is a strong brand in the cleaning industry. Our commitment to quality and our urge for offering best solutions to customers are the pillars of strength behind building this strong brand.
Quality is our way of life. Every product undergoes stringent quality tests at all stages to ensure that there is zero defects. Let it be domestic or export sales, the quality standards are uniform.
One of our biggest strength is our strong sales and service network. Our all India network of over 300 people in sales & service cover entire India and continuously strive to exceed customer expectations in ensuring excellent sales & service support.
Interesting to know about Roots Multiclean offering its solutions to international markets. Could you kindly elaborate on Roots Multiclean’s international operations?
Presently, we export to over 34 countries worldwide and we offer over 45 models of equipment which are manufactured in India. Some of our major export markets are UK, USA, Germany, Australia, UAE, South Korea & Africa. One of our top export scrubber models - The Wizzard, has crossed 85,000 in export numbers as of last year.
We have an office in UAE to cater to the Middle East & North Africa markets. We have also recently acquired a company in the US which will enable us to expand our footprint in the North American market.
What are Roots Multiclean’s offering to industrial/manufacturing sectors?
We offer a wide range of solutions especially for these sectors. In addition to regular cleaning machines like scrubber driers, sweepers, high pressure washers, we also offer specialised solutions like industrial vacuum cleaners, material conveying system, centralised vacuum systems, oil and chips collection machines for engineering industries, directly helping them in production.
Further, we also offer ATEX certified explosion proof machines for pharma, chemical & food industries, and truck mounted vacuum sweepers for collection and transportation of raw & re-usable materials.
What are your future strategies and expansion plans?
We have been growing in double digits for the past few years and with the increasing need for cleaning equipment, this growth is expected to continue.
We have been consistently investing in our manufacturing facilities every year to keep pace with this trend. We have just begun the construction of our second plant, which will be ready for production in a year.
Once this is in operation, we will basically double our capacity. We will also continue to invest in indigenously developed technologies and local manufacturing for both domestic and export markets.
Tell us about Roots Group of Companies?
Roots Group was started by my father long time back in 1970 with 2 employees. Initially he started his business by manufacturing air horns and electric horns. He slowly started to vertically integrate different processes like die casting, plastic moulding, which in turn became separate business entities after sometime.
Right now we have over 3000 employees in the group and we are into various fields of business like automotive accessories, die casting, plastic moulding, high precession machining, starter motors for off road vehicles, office furniture’s and in campus electric vehicles.
Please tell us about CSR activities of your organisation.
Roots Group is committed to many CSR activities. In partnership with Corporation of Coimbatore, we have deployed a truck mounted sweeper to clean the roads of the city. This sweeper sweeps the arterial roads of Coimbatore. It sweeps up to 25 kms every day and collects 5 tonnes of debris every single day since November 2016. A step taken towards ensuring a cleaner today for a safer tomorrow.
Over the years, increasing population and depleting water resources have pushed up the demand for water. The hard reality is that our nation faces the worst water crises of the decade. We were supporting Siruthuli Foundation, an NGO that is working on distillation lakes & cleaning water ways and work to address the water & environmental problems.
In addition to these CSR, we also do other activities supporting environmental cause. We have been distributing thousands of saplings over the last many years to our employees and people of adjacent villages.
Scan the QR Code to know more about Roots Multiclean Ltd.
We have been growing in double digits for the past few years and with the increasing need for cleaning equipment, this growth is expected
to continue.
Varun Karthikeyan, MD, Roots Multiclean Ltd
Indian cleaning industry
Hygiene Across Industries
Roots
Roots Multiclean
Middle East and North Africa Markets
Roots Group
INTEC 2019
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