On the impact of Covid 19, he said, “Given the discretionary nature of the Textile and Apparel industry, the pandemic has affected us. With the lockdown, all factories were shut and demand came to a standstill. In this backdrop, the Indian textiles industry accounting for roughly 14 per cent of the total industrial output and a key contributor to the economic activity has also been adversely impacted.”

Raymond is challenging costs restructuring operations to mitigate the impact. “At Raymond, we are challenging all costs and have also implemented restructuring to ensure efficiencies. “In line with the prevailing market conditions, the company has undertaken the process of cost rationalisation and various cost control measures related to sales and marketing, manpower, rentals and others to minimise the impact on business due to the pandemic,” Singhania said.

Singhania said textile as an industry cannot move totally towards digital. “While some products have moved towards digital, I don’t think textile as a category can move totally towards digital. I think today digital for the textile industry will be less than 1 percent and I’m sure as things open up of which we are seeing green shoots, customers will come back to the store very quickly,” Singhania said.