Known for its textile brand in the yesteryears, Arvind
Mafatlal Group is setting sights on being a frontrunner in
the education sector, offering ‘uniforms to AI’, and building
momentum on its turnaround journey, according to its Vice
Chairman Priyavrata Mafatlal.
While textiles, particularly uniforms, will be at the core of the
group’s focus with flagship firm Mafatlal Industries, it is also
targeting technology, future skilling and entrepreneurship,
and the health and hygiene space, Mafatlal, a third
generation of the family, said.
“There is a lot more that we are doing other than just textiles
how do we support the education system, which we’ve
been in predominantly through uniforms. How do we
support it through other ventures that we’ve already
started?” he said, when asked about the long-term
ambition of the group.
Mafatlal Industries, which has a legacy spanning over 120
years, is a leading player in school, corporate and hospital
uniforms. The other group firms include rubber chemicals
maker NOCIL Ltd, future skills-focused learning startup Get
Set Learn, and IT firm Vrata Tech Solutions.
“Textiles obviously remain an important focus. Uniforms are something we wish to disrupt no one has the time today to
buy fabric, go to the tailor. You want ready-made clothes
coming to your house, especially for uniforms,” he said.While
there are some players who are delivering readymade
uniforms at home, Mafatlal said, “If we can do it at scale,
that would be a great shift”.In the education space, he
said, “At a group level, we would like to be known as
maybe the only one or one of the only players in the world
which is giving you everything from uniforms to AI”.“We
have been digitising classrooms in government schools. With
those same government schools, we have now moved to
building ICT labs, robotic labs. We are moving in that
direction.” Referring to ‘Get Set Learn’, Mafatlal said, “It is
working only on future skills... entrepreneurship and building
entrepreneurial mindsets, robotics, AI, and career and life
skills. We are building that with some of the biggest names in
the world, such as Harvard, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, VEX
(they) are partnering with us to co-create this journey that
comes under future skills”.Stating that the group is also
majorly into scrubs, hospital uniforms, diapers, and sanitary
napkins in the hygiene space, he pointed out that “health is
something again we want to focus on”, providing all the
requirements of a “health provider”.
“Technology plays a part in connecting all of these. These
three to four things are where the group would like to
become very large and in a leadership position,” Mafatlal
said.Commenting on the size of the businesses, he said,
“Mafatlal Industries, which is the flagship company, we
closed last year at about Rs 2,800 crore. This year, we
achieved that broadly in about six months. In nine months,
again, we are ahead of last year’s nine-month numbers. So,
it is an all-time high for us”.
In the last four to five years, he said, “We have tried to grow
30-40 per cent every year”.
Mafatlal further said, “Broadly, when we came out of
COVID, the base was smaller, so it was easier to grow at
50-60 per cent for one or two years. Then once the base
becomes larger, we have tried to maintain a 30 per cent
(growth) number as far as possible on the topline”.
Reflecting on the journey of the group, which has had its
share of ups and downs, Mafatlal said, “We spent 10-15
years rebuilding brick by brick we are now confident of the
story we are building, we are confident of the platform we
have built”.
In 120 years since the group has existed, it has “thrived,
survived, and is looking to thrive again” with the hope of
inspiring the future generation through its journey, he noted.