My focus for Mafatlal is to take uniforms to the world: Priyavrata Mafatlal

Priyavrata Mafatlal outlines plans to take Indian uniforms global, expand exports and blend legacy with AI-led growth

Priyavrata Mafatlal, vice-chairman of the Arvind Mafatlal group and managing director of Mafatlal Industries, spoke to Akshara Srivastava and Nivedita Mookerji about reimagining the 121-year-old brand, coping with geopolitical disruptions, family-owned versus professionally-run businesses, and more. Edited excerpts from an exclusive interview with the 38-year old Mafatlal, a fifth generation industrialist, when he visited New Delhi recently: 

The Mafatlal group has been in the uniforms space for long. Why have you decided to move online at this point? 

Yes, we have been in the school ecosystem for a very long time, having made clothes for one in nine school-going Indian kids. But branding was not important at the time; things have changed now as the country becomes more aspirational. We’ve noticed that people want to know the label behind the uniform. The tailoring industry is also becoming smaller and the shift towards garments is being expedited with the advent of e-commerce. So, we’ve added that layer in the form of a marketplace for corporate houses and schools. We are also expanding that to hospitals with the launch of Mafatlal MedFits (apparel for healthcare professionals)… We will have pockets that will be online and allow us to be proactive rather than reactive. 

The House of Mafatlal in the last 120 years has witnessed many ups and downs. What does the House signify now and what is the kind of generational shift that you are steering? 

Internally, I think, it signifies immense resilience and the ability to bounce back from everything that is thrown at us — from the first World War to Covid-19 — that is the DNA of the organisation. The worst phase for us was in the 90s when we were a formally sick company in the BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) and we didn’t know if we would exist or not. So, it is our responsibility towards the organisation that we put ourselves back out there and tell people a story, which they may be inspired by. 

You have recently forayed into exports too. How did that come about? 

When we were rebuilding, we wanted to rebuild on the back of a stable market that was India… In the last decade or 15 years, we’ve managed to build a predictable growth for ourselves. On the back of a government change that was talking about rebuilding, it made sense for us to build with them — for a market we understood. And now, we feel we want to expand what we’re strong in and take that to the world. 

In the light of the recent trade deals with the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), how do you see your exports segment evolving? 

We started out with Western Asia, which is culturally similar to India. We’ve done a lot of business with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh... Now with the trade pact with the EU and some certainty on the US tariffs, we can start formulating strategies for those markets. The EU will play a big part of our way forward because the deal makes us as competitive, if not more, as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. There has been uncertainty — political or economic — with nations like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. So who’s the next best bet other than China? It’s India. 

My personal focus for Mafatlal is to take uniforms to the world… It has also become very exciting to look at the non-uniform space and that’s something we’re pushing for in some geographies. 

Geopolitics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) continue to be two big disruptors for businesses. How are you addressing these? 

Our rubber chemical manufacturing unit, Nocil, which is dependent on global trade, sees the impact of geopolitical disruptions. In textiles, we have a strong footing and are not a house of cards. Since we came out of BIFR, the world had changed and we were playing catch up. We started to feel confident only in the last five years and are sure that we’ve built a stable footing at a group level that will allow us to leapfrog. Coming to AI, the speed of disruption is limited to these two spaces. But we also have Get Set Learn, for future skill building programmes, where we are using a lot of AI. 

Insufficient labour force has been a concern in some of the textile hubs in India. Will automation address that gap? 

Yes and No. There has been automation with the talk of smart factories etc., but the scale is missing. Automation or robotics may not replace humans. But new machinery, which is a lot more competitive, is starting to replace older machinery. So, the workforce required on a machine is going down. But, we are still a while away from seeing a completely automated factory. Consider the edtech space, for instance. Online education has not been able to replace offline education. But educators who embrace technology will replace those who don’t. That is the blend of human and technology we will see. 

Surveys have shown that the younger generation is not keen on carrying on with family business. What are your thoughts on family-run versus professionally-run business? 

You need families to think and operate professionally to remain competitive and you need professionals to be as entrepreneurial and empathetic as a family member would. One is not superior to the other... So, we are a professionally run family-owned business. Similarly, I have a 100-year company and a one-year-old company in the group. The new company is taught the importance of governance, business dealing and keeping the kitchen clean, while the legacy companies are taught how to be nimble when it comes to decision making. We are a 121-year-old start up. 

Mafatlal was counted as one of the top brands in India at one point. Is that something you aspire to achieve again? 

I don’t live in the past. I learn from the past. There are aspects from the past that I hold on to dearly, because that is our DNA and value system. But the world has changed... I don’t want to do things in comparison with the past. I want to do it in comparison to what we’re building today. 

Any concrete goal? 

We want to be the most-loved and trusted company in the education space that gives you everything from uniforms to AI. There will be other things, but that’s the immediate goal for the next three to five years. We have been around for more than 100 years and if we do this right, we’ll be around for another 200.