Gurugram apparel units make PPE kits for government agencies

GURUGRAM: City-based apparel manufacturers and exporters have turned to producing protective equipment (PPE) kits for government agencies due to the lack of fresh garment orders from offshore clients. Around 25,000 kits are being manufactured daily in Gurugram, most of which are supplied to municipal corporations in the state, as well as other agencies.
Lalit Gulati, chairman of Modelama Export Pvt Ltd, which is manufacturing around 8,000 PPE kits daily at its Udyog Vihar and Manesar units, said the Centre organised a programme last month to educate them about the technology required and opportunities in manufacturing PPE kits through the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC). “We had the required infrastructure and only needed machines for sealing of kits,” Gulati said, adding that they ordered machines from abroad and started producing protective gear.
“After carrying out tests, government agencies notified the particular type of textile to be used for manufacturing one-time and re-usable PPE kits. It was already available for use,” Modelama director Arvind Rai said.
Rai said they are not getting any orders from abroad and are completing pending orders for now along with manufacturing PPE kits, which they believe are going to be in demand for a long time. “We can manufacture a large number of PPE kits. Though the government has banned their export at present, we hope the ban will be lifted in the coming months. PPE kits manufactured in India are much cheaper in the global market,” he said.
Vedanta Limited, a leading oil, gas and metals company, has imported 23 sealing machines in collaboration with the Union ministry of textiles. It has teamed up with authorised apparel units from Gurugram to roll out over 5,000 PPE kits per day.
AEPC chairman Dr A Sakthivel said they conducted their first webinar on the technology and machinery used for manufacturing PPE kits during Lockdown 2.0, for which around 2,000 people registered. Soon, companies airlifted sealing machines from South Korea, Italy and China. Now, nearly 200 manufacturing units across the country are making PPE kits and another 500-600 units are producing masks, he said.
At present, PPE kits are manufactured on orders by government agencies. They are expected to be available in the domestic market for the public in coming days. “Marketing of PPE kits was not allowed. After approval from the government three days ago, we have come up with guidelines for domestic marketing of PPE kits, and they will be available in the coming days,” said Sakthivel.
“In another three months, India is expected to get orders for PPE kits and masks worth US$ 1billion,” he added.