“Our corporate targets for FY 2022-23 are to stabilise the operation of both our entities post demerger and to improve our top line and bottom line by 10 – 12 percent.”
Incorporated in 2020, Ddev Plastiks Industries Ltd. is a quality supplier of PVC compounds. Ddev Plastiks Industries, formerly known as Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd., has demerged to be a separate company focussing on compound manufacturing and supplying business. Ddev Plastiks Industries is pursuing various strategies including capacity and capability enhancement to make its presence much stronger in domestic and overseas markets. It is also adding new products with better aspects such as Halogen Free Flame Retardant/XL-HFFR and specialised compounds for solar/PV cables. In an interview with WCI, Mr. Ddev Surana, Director, Ddev Plastiks Industries Ltd. talks about the demerger along with objectives, technological innovations, product portfolio and its key strengths.
Wire & Cable India: Give us a brief summary of the recent performance of Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd.?
Ddev Surana: Performance during the recently concluded Financial Year 2021-22 has been significantly better compared to the previous financial year. We have achieved a growth rate of more than 20 percent in FY 2021-22 vis-à-vis compared to the preceding FY. This has been possible due to overall better conditions prevailing in the market with regard to demand for cable compounds locally & globally.
The push for infrastructure development has contributed significantly to our growth and the same augurs well for our future. On the product front, we have been able to stabilise the performance of our product for 66 kV and Tree Retardant XLPE. We have a good response from all our customers and we expect a good contribution to our business from these products.
WCI: Could you shed some light on the developments recently taking place in your company?
DS: There are many important changes taking place some are on the corporate restructuring side and some are related to expansion and new product development.
The most significant development is the demerger of Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd. w.e.f. 1 April 2022. To improve our focus on various verticals of our business, we decided to demerge Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd. into two entities. Existing Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd. retains upcycling and trading activities which are highly capital intensive and growing segments. These sectors require high capital outlay as well as better management attention.
Existing manufacturing activities covering various kinds of compounds including wire and cable compounds are placed in hands of a new company emerging out of demerger, Ddev Plastiks Industries Ltd. All existing manufacturing facilities will be under Ddev Plastiks Industries Ltd. to ensure a seamless transition of the business at Ddev Plastiks Industries Ltd. The management team remains unchanged.
Apart from these changes at the corporate level, we have also gone ahead with capacity expansion for various compounds and masterbatches.
WCI: What are your corporate targets for FY 2022-23? How are you making your presence stronger in the domestic and global markets?
DS: Our corporate targets for FY 2022-23 are to stabilise the operation of both our entities post demerger and to improve our top line and bottom line by 10-12 percent. To achieve this, we need to make our presence much stronger in domestic and overseas markets. We are actively pursuing various strategies to achieve these objectives. Key elements are capacity and capability enhancements.
These can be achieved by capacity addition for all our products and introduction of enhanced products such as insulation grades for high voltage rating and also specialised products like TR –XLPE compounds. We are also adding new products with better aspects such as Halogen Free Flame Retardant/XL-HFFR & specialised compounds for solar/PV cables.
We are also undertaking collaborative efforts with our domestic and international customers to develop enhanced products and are already at an advanced stage of negotiations. These efforts will give us a better foothold in certain export markets and will also help in improving our share with our key domestic customers.
WCI: Could you please highlight the key technological innovations that you have introduced in your products and operations in recent times?
DS: Technological innovation is a continuous process and we are working on various aspects of our product performance. The major advancement and improvement are in the areas of our production and quality assurance facilities. We have upgraded our contamination control and checking system and also improved our packing system with major atomisation to avoid human intervention thereby eliminating issues arising out of it.
WCI: Tell us about your product portfolio along with its key strengths and the applications where your compounds are extensively used. Are there any new additions in your product range in recent times?
DS: For the wire & cable industry, our product range is quite extensive which covers products for voltage ratings as low as 1.1 kV to 72 kV. We have PVC compounds for low-end applications to highly specialised applications like compounds for building wires for extrusion with very high line speed. We also have products suitable for cold regions with the capability to withstand – 40 °C. In PVC we are constantly upgrading our capability for the automotive industry.
XLPE grades are also very widely used by the cable industry and we offer products up to 72 kV both – insulation and semiconducting. We also offer specialised grades such as TR-XLPE (Water Tree Retardant).
In Halogen Free Flame Retardant Grades, we offer a full range of various applications including solar cables. During the last year, we have added many new products which include insulation and semiconducting compounds for 72 kV, TR-XLPE, and FR-XLPE (meeting UL specifications).
On the PVC side, we have added UV Resistant, sunlight resisting FR grade meeting UL specifications. XL-HFFR has also been successfully added to our product range in the last year.
WCI: Being one of the leading manufacturers of cable compounds, what is your outlook on the wire and cable industry and your target for the coming years?
DS: We see a direct co-relationship between GDP growth and cable industry growth. A high focus on infrastructure building will result in high demand for cable & wire compounds. Looking at current challenges due to high commodity prices and supply chain issues, it would be difficult to give exact targets for coming years but would be appropriate to project the continued CAGR in double-digit for our industry for the coming decade.
WCI: What is your idea for participating in CWF 2022? Do you plan to introduce something new at the exhibition?
DS: Our motive to participate in such an exhibition is to meet and interact with our customers and industry players. This platform gives us an opportunity to meet all stakeholders related to our industry in one place. It also gives us an opportunity to hear expert opinions during the special technical session organised by you. Product introduction is a regular process. We are not using this exhibition specifically as a launching pad for any of our new products.
