India’s TOP 500 Companies 2021

INDIA’S TOP 500 COMPANIES 2021 137 Experts’ View How would you summarize Gokaldas Exports’ journey in the Indian market and globally? Gokaldas Exports Limited is a leading apparel manufacturer since 1979, engaged in the business of design, manufacture and export of a wide range of apparel products ranging from outerwear, active wear and fashion wear for all seasons. We work with some of the best global brands in the world and export to more than 50 countries. Our world class apparel manufacturing facilities are complemented by integrated ancillary units providing services like laundry, embroidery, printing, quilting, and poly-wadding. We employ about 25,000 people, 80% of who are women. All our units are certified to international standards for environmental and social compliance. India is a major textiles and apparel exporter globally. As a country of over a billion people with a strong GDP growth over the years, the domestic Indian market has also been expanding at a rapid pace. India has a strong textile ecosystem and is a large producer of high quality cotton, viscose and polyester fibres. The country has a huge installed capacity of spinning, weaving, textiles processing and apparel manufacturing. India has a textiles tradition with a long history in cotton and silks. As a key player in the global textiles industry, Gokaldas Exports, is focused on being a leading manufacturer that is sought-after by top global apparel brands for its product capability, quality and consistency, with a strong commitment to sustainability. What are some of the sustainability initiatives by your company? Wearestronglycommittedtosustainability in everything that we do. Environmental and social conscientiousness is embedded in our manufacturing operations as we seek to be a responsible player in the textiles business. Over the years, we have strengthened environmental initiatives across our eco- system to reduce the carbon footprint. We remain committed to the principles of restoration, replacement, reduction, and recycling which reflects in our actions like large scale sapling plantation across factories, shift from fossil fuel to biofuel and renewable energy, equipping our laundries with machines that consume less water and chemicals, installation of waste water recycling for ensuring zero liquid discharge. What is your growth strategy over the next 3-5 years? The population of our world would soon be almost 8 billion, 50% of who will be the consuming class. Even as the population age in advanced countries, the consuming class is burgeoning in developing economies, which will see a reasonably quick rebound after the pandemic and continue its growth trajectory. It will also be aided by a younger consumerist demographic. Today 50% of humankind live in cities. 66% of total wealth creation is in top 600 cities. The whole rise of fast fashion in apparel that is driving mass consumption of clothes, is indicative of these trends. We intend to focus on high quality and consistency in manufacturing, while we build scalable capacities to leverage the rising global demand. GOKALDAS EXPORTS LIMITED Sivaramakrishnan Ganapathi Managing Director Dun & Bradstreet