Lindstrom firing on all cylinders in India

Lindstrom entered India nearly 160 years after it first set up operations in Helsinki way back in 1848. The world was a different place then and the Finnish textile service company was quite content catering to countries in Europe.

Things have changed dramatically in recent times with emerging markets like India now playing a bigger role in the global arena. Juha Laurio, President & CEO of Lindstrom, believes the story has just begun and the sky is the limit for his company in this part of the world.

Since the time it opened shop here in 2007, Lindstrom has set up service centres in 10 locations which supply workwear to a host of companies. The 11th will be commissioned in Visakhapatnam next year with many more to follow through the end of this decade. These service centres design, supply and deliver garments, while catering to their mending, washing and maintenance too.

“We have 20 locations planned for India as part of our Vision 2020 by which time the employee headcount will be nearly 1,000. We have also targeted at least half a million customers to be in place by then,” said Laurio in a recent telephone interview.

Pharmaceuticals, automotive, retail and food processing continue to be big user industries for Lindstrom in India. The response has been “very good” thus far which gives Lindstrom the confidence that the India growth script is here to stay. “In the future, we also plan to look at the metals industry which offers tremendous growth potential,” says Laurio.

Workwear was a new concept in India when Lindstrom debuted in 2007 but things have changed rapidly since then. Today, companies appreciate the importance of hygiene and safety for workers given that they are now part of a larger global space with stiffer regulations in place.

Apart from workwear, Lindstrom’s textile services extend to providing specific solutions for segments like restaurants, hotels, hygiene and so on. It is very likely that some of these will make their way into India during the coming years even while the workwear business remains top priority for now.

Europe continues to be one of the biggest markets for Lindstrom but Laurio is equally upbeat about growth prospects in Asia with South Korea being the recent addition to its kitty last year. “Majority of our growth is coming from existing markets. China, Russia, India and Eastern Europe have been doing very well too,” he says.

Interestingly, Lindstrom is as bullish on the UK despite all the economic uncertainty in the post-Brexit setting. The company has planned sizable investments here and sees no reason to be worried in a new environment devoid of Europe’s protective umbilical chord. This is because the UK still remains one of its most important markets for textiles.

This positive outlook holds for Russia too which, similarly, has been experiencing a lot of economic volatility in recent times. “In Lindstrom’s existence of nearly 170 years, there have been a lot of Brexits. Protection is getting stronger across world markets and this is a reality we need to live with,” reasons Laurio. Reiterating that he is “optimistic by nature”, he says geopolitical uncertainties can sometimes throw up new opportunities for business which only augurs well for Lindstrom.

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