Interview Yasho Industries Limited.

Indian companies are well-positioned to take advantage of this shifting trend in the speciality chemicals industry says, Parag Jhaveri MD & CEO, Yasho Industries Limited.

 What are the key growth triggers for India's speciality chemicals industry?

The Indian speciality chemicals market is increasingly gaining importance as the world looks to reduce its dependence on China. Globally, speciality chemicals are a USD 800 billion industry. India’s market share in the speciality chemicals sector globally is about 5%. Indian companies are well-positioned to take advantage of this shifting trend. Several companies have announced capacity expansions. Companies continue to invest heavily in R&D to develop products and processes which will be the key growth drivers for the speciality chemicals industry. 

Yasho Industries board approved capital raise of Rs 42.75 crore led by marquee investors in October 2021. Can you shed some light on the same?

In view of the future outlook, growth targets and prospects, we raised Rs 42.75 crore to augment our balance sheet. The money will be used to pay back some debt as well as to reduce and ease our working capital requirements. Furthermore, we continue to increase our R&D spending to meet our customer needs and deliver quality products.

What are your long-term strategic focus and the key risks facing the growth outlook?

Yasho industries wants to position itself as a preferred supplier to our customers. Exports contribute to more than 60% of our revenue and we see a good potential to grow that. We have opened an office in the Netherlands to better reach our customers in the European region. For the same, we have 34 products REACH registered currently.

We are consciously working on making our manufacturing processes sustainable by reducing waste and water generated to reduce our environmental footprint. Our R&D strength combined with our manufacturing experience has helped us to reduce water usage by as much as 50% in some processes.

The key risk facing the industry growth outlook is the increasing supply chain problem. We import many chemicals in the country. Import substitution for many basic chemicals will be required for the speciality chemicals sector to thrive.