[ At KRSNA Engineering, technology leads the way.]

From left, Priyank Shah, Chandresh Shah, H.D. Shah, and M.D. Shah, Directors, KRSNA Grou


Krshna introduced the Soft Flow Dyeing Machine in India for the first time in the year 1992.Mr.M.D.Shah who is the chairman of the company was awarded not once but twice by the and the same has ever since become extremely popular among the people of the industry.

Having successfully created its own niche in the development and supply of import-substitute textile machinery, KRSNA Engineering is now focused on installing the latest technologies at its plants to provide textile machinery at par with those made in Europe and elsewhere.

From left, Priyank Shah, Chandresh Shah, H.D. Shah, and M.D. Shah, Directors, KRSNA Group.

KRSNA Group was started with the vision to develop and manufacture import-substitute textile machinery and they have continued to adhere to this vision from inception till date. The company first started developing and manufacturing vacuum extractors, then soft flow dyeing machines, and now offers a continuous fabric washing range.

The company was set up by M.D. Shah, who has a degree in Textile Engineering from VJTI and is also a Fellow of the Textile Institute, FTI, Manchester. Shah has the valuable experience of working both in textile mills as a chemist as well as in textile machinery  manufacturing company at its marketing division. Thus, when entrepreneurship beckoned, he was firm about foraying into the field of textiles.

This is what set the roots for KRSNA Engineering. “I had always wanted to develop textile technologies which would save water, steam, dyes and chemicals. We began by manufacturing a vacuum extractor machine following which we developed soft flow dyeing machinery in India, both of them being the first of their kind in the country. It thus helped towards import substitution,” Shah informs.

The company has won national awards in 1996 and 1997 for developing these technologies. “My second vision is to manufacture machines which are at par in quality with those offered by our European competitors. The mills should not need to think twice before purchasing our machines. We have already reached that stage with our soft flow dyeing machinery range,” Shah adds.

In 1997, Chandresh Shah, nephew of M.D. Shah joined the company and began to look after the sales and marketing functions.

The same year, they also introduced new production technologies in their first facility and then in due course of time also added a second and a third production facility. With the starting of the new production units, the company started manufacturing spares and electrical accessories in-house, which are used in the production of textile machinery. This enabled the company to keep a strict check on the quality of the machines. “It helped us get repeat orders from up to 90% of our customers,” says Chandresh Shah.

The company began exports in 1993 with an order from Thailand for a vacuum extractor. Ever since there has been no looking back. KRSNA Engineering now exports 35% of its production to 24 countries across five continents. As of date, the company has sold around 3,000 dyeing machines across the globe with the motto ‘Make in India and Sell to the World’. The dyeing machines supplied by KRSNA Engineering have a lower liquor ratio of 1:5.5 as against 1:7 in conventional machines, while their prices too are very competitive when compared with European manufacturers. They have also supplied two dyeing machines with a capacity of 2,100 kg for dyeing terry towels as against a maximum capacity of 1,500 kg in conventional machines.

Chandresh Shah claims that their dyeing machines can dye any type of fabric and in any construction. “We have kept on upgrading our textile technologies with the passage of time and currently our company has the capacity to produce around 100-120 machines per year,” he informs. In 2014, the company introduced a new fabric washing machine named KRSNFLOW, which also offers massive savings in water consumption. In conventional washing machines, the fabric is washed in open width and consumes around 60-70 litres per kg while KRSNA Engineering has introduced an open width fabric-cum-rope technology which uses just 25-30 litres water per kg. Now they are also supplying a continuous machine range, again a first of its kind in India, which includes washing, scouring and dyeing.

Sales, service and innovation.

For after-sales service, the company has stationed services engineers at Ahmadabad, Delhi NRC, Ludhiana and Tirupur. The service complaint is attended to within 24-36 hours. They also keep a good stock of spares and their customer list includes leading companies like Arvin Ltd., Nahar Spinning, Ginni Filaments, Jain Cord Industries, Chiripal Group, Shrijee Lifestyle, Jeyvishnu Textile, etc. Recently, KRSNA Engineering bought an aqua finish dyeing technology from a German company called Krantz Synergy. It will first buy prototypes of two aqua finish dyeing machines and then start manufacturing at its new plant in Ahmadabad. Once the new plant begins operations,  

Krantz Synergy will stop manufacturing these machines at their plant.

Meanwhile, as part of its strategy to expand, the company has already purchased land for setting up the project, which is expected to be operational in 2023. Once the plant goes on-stream, these jet dyeing machines will be manufactured only in India and will be supplied across the world. When fully operational, it will employ around 100 people. While in conventional dyeing machines the liquor ratio is 1:6 to 1:6.5, that offered by the JV will be between 1:4 and 1:4.5. This will result in savings of water, steam and chemicals of around 15%. Subject to Krantz Synergy’s satisfaction with   operations at the JV, the German company may offer more technologies to be produced at the facility in the future.

"We are very optimistic about the growth of the Indian textile industry. In current times, when other textile machinery companies are complaining about a shortage of orders, we are comfortably placed. The biggest reason is that we continue to upgrade our textile technologies regularly,” says Chandresh Shah. “Our only concern is in the control of effluent water released by textile mills. If the government lends a helping hand to process houses in setting up common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) as done in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, then there can be no end to growth.

These CETPs are particularly needed in states of North India as it is not financially viable for small and medium-scale process houses to install their own ETPs,” he adds. He also wants the government to continue TUFS for another five years after the current scheme expires next year as it has helped textile companies to upgrade their technologies over the last few years. He also expects the government to restart the State or Central schemes, whereby those setting up new production plants were given fiscal incentives. “It is unfortunate that the big and major mills in India have a mentality that only European-make machines can deliver quality. But we offer full assurance that our machines can also deliver fabrics of comparable quality,” Chandresh Shah says.

SOURCE :


Mr.MD Shah, B.Tex, FTI (Manchester), Chairman, KRSNS ENGINEERIN, Mumbai.