Pali, Rajasthan-based Maharaja Shree Umaid Mills Ltd. (MSUM) has bagged order for supplying Polo neck T-shirts to the Gujarat Police. The modernization department of Gujarat Police has placed orders with textile companies to ensure high-quality uniforms after receiving complaints from lower-rank policemen about the poor quality of uniforms provided to them that cause skin rashes.
“The Gujarat Police has placed an order with us for about 1,50,000 pieces of T-shirts, which we have to deliver by the end of next month,” said Govind Sharda, ED of MSUM. The policemen serving with Gujarat Police are given two sets of uniforms every year. But, the policemen claim that they need to spend on uniforms from their pocket as those provided by the department are made from sub-standard fabrics that do not absorb sweat, which causes irritation and give out bad odour.
In the meanwhile MSUM is doing expansion in weaving and processing with an investment of around Rs. 100 crores and will install 96 air jet shuttleless looms by October this year. Currently they have 494 shuttle looms. The garmenting activities of the company is just 6 months old and they have a plant on lease with the capacity of 10 lakh pieces per month for executing the current orders with them. However, motivated with the huge volumes the second phase of expansion will be to put up a manufacturing unit for in-house garmenting.
Initially, focus is on Institutional wear (menswear) so the minimum margin and bulk production strategy can cut manufacturing cost. “We are starting with the domestic market and are already expecting repeat orders. We will focus on export market also after establishing a firm command in the domestic market,” says Govind Sharda. Going forward the company also intends to add women’s wear to the product profile.
