Amid the drought and water scarcity in Gujarat, technical textiles maker - Emmbi Industries Limited - is looking to tap the state’s last-mile irrigation potential that is spread across over four million acres under the Narmada Dam command area. The firm will also strengthen its presence in the existing water-scarce regions of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

According to the company’s estimates, Gujarat has a water conservation market worth Rs 3000 crore which includes the storage, transport and distribution of water. Emmbi Industries has implemented water conservation solutions on a canal network of over 200 kilometres (km) in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra.

"We are engaging with different state government including Gujarat to explore a possibility to provide our solutions in this segment," Makrand Appalwar, Chairman and Managing Director (MD), Emmbi Industries told BusinessLine.

The company is looking to expand its B2C vertical to drive the growth in the water conservation space. Appalwar said that of the four verticals of the company - Specialty Packaging, advanced composites, water conservation and agro polymers, the latter two segments will witness faster growth over the next three years.

Company's revenues from agro polymers segment is likely to almost double from 3.2 per cent of the overall revenues, to six per cent by 2022. The revenues from the water conservation segment may increase from 19.23 per cent currently to about 30 per cent by 2022.

Emmbi has reported a total turnover of Rs 314 crore for the fiscal 2018-19, up by about 13 per cent from previous year, with net profit at Rs 18 crore for the year which is higher by about 17 per cent on year-on-year basis.

"Emmbi's role in water conservation solutions includes making canals and water conservation units percolation-free as well as taking it to the last mile. We have about 15 patented products for technical textiles. We look to encourage frugal innovation in water conservation using our products," said Appalwar.

Emmbi currently gets about 48 per cent of its revenues from its exports to mainly Europe, America and Oceania.

"But going forward we look to have increased revenues from the domestic market with push for water conservation efforts. Changing rainfall pattern and increased water scarcity are becoming a big challenge. We provide solutions in capturing the surplus rainwater through methods namely Jal Sanchay pond liner, Aqua Save Canal liner and Perco Plus percolation tanks," he said.

Emmbi has a manufacturing facility at Silvassa, where it invested about $3 million last year to expand capacity. Currently, it has a capacity to produce material 25,000 tonnes per annum. Company currently operates the plant at 40 per cent utilisation, while it expects to infuse additional $1.5 million after next two years to further augment capacity.

All the fund raising is met through a mix of internal accruals and debt funding with company's debt-to-equity ratio being at 0.9 per cent, said Appalwar.

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