From Zero To 2.5 Lakh Per Day In Two Months - How India Turned Around Its PPE Manufacturing

Around the world, there is an acute shortage and high demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for the frontline workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And with the COVID-19 situation showing no signs of improving the demand and supply is going to remain the same for the better part of 2020 at least.

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For long the world had depended on China to manufacture everything but, the COVID-19 outbreak that originated in Wuhan first paralyzed the country, and by the time PPEs were in high demand they could not manufacture enough.

This, along with the fact that in recent times Chinese made PPEs have been called out for being substandard and failing quality tests, made the world look elsewhere.

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And it has given India an opportunity, at a time when the country's apparel manufacturing sector was facing a crisis due to the lockdown.

Within a span of two months, India has gone from zero to having the capacity of producing nearly 2.5 lakh PPE kits and 2 lakh N-95 masks per day which is sufficient to meet the country's requirement in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak.

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A PPE kit consists of a mask, eye shield, shoe cover, gown, and gloves, which doctors and healthcare workers wear while attending COVID-19 patients.

"It is very comforting to us that our in-house PPE kit production is increasing fast. On May 2, the country recorded maximum production of protective gears of about 2.06 lakh manufactured in a single day, a senior Health Ministry official told ANI.

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¡°Earlier, there was no domestic manufacturing of PPE kit in the country and almost all of them were imported. Within a short span of time, India has been able to increase the daily production of PPE kits to about 1.5 lakh,¡± he said.

The government has identified at least 110 domestic manufacturers of PPE kits in the country. However, only 52 companies are manufacturing PPE kits right now. Companies like Alok Industries, JCT Phagwara, Gokaldas Exports, Aditya Birla, etc., are some of the domestic PPE kits manufacturers.

Recently the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) along with South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) and Indian Technical Textiles Association (ITTA) held an online conference to make India a hub for sourcing PPE kits over the next few years.

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"We find that there will be a domestic demand of Rs 10,000 crore for the next one year and internationally there will be a $60 billion business in 2025 whereas India has done only $260 million so far last year, a study says," said AEPC chairman Dr A Sakthivel.

Dr KS Sundararaman, chairman, ITTA, said: "There is a very strong anti-China sourcing sentiment going on right now and this is an opportunity for us to capture. We have a vibrant Indian market and we have a great global market. Please reach out to doctors who are near you and understand these medical professionals who will wear these PPE kits."

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Dr Prakash Vasudevan, Director, SITRA, said: "We have two classifications - single-use and reusable. Both are widely accepted in today's scenario because disposal or single-use is becoming very complicated. The only way to dispose of all this medical waste is incineration and considering our situation safe disposal is a big problem. So, reusables are also slowly coming in."

Prasenjeet Shambharkar, Solutions Consultant, Lectra India, said: "WHO has predicted that globally 89 million masks, 30 million gowns, 1.6 million goggles, 76 million gloves and 2.9 million litres of hand sanitiser are required per month during the pandemic. There are different types of PPE kits which are required, basically one is for the doctors and one is for the investigation team."