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Reliance Industries Ltd, which acquired textile manufacturer Alok Industries last year, has redeployed the manufacturing capacities of the company in Silvassa, Gujarat to exclusively manufacturing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical professionals treating covid-19 patients.
“RIL has re-engineered the plant and processes to enable manufacturing of PPE material and has deployed fresh technical tailoring resources of nearly 10,000 people for assembling the PPE suits,” said an official aware of the development.
Production of PPEs started mid-April and has been ramped up to produce more than 100,000 PPE per day now. Currently India is manufacturing around 50 lakh PPEs which will be increased to 2 crore by the end of June.
The facility at Silvassa is manufacturing PPE coverall suits which are single piece zip-up suits and give complete over protection. The coverall hems are closed with anti-microbial tape.
Reliance is selling the PPEs to the government at around Rs 650 per piece. This is a significant drop from the nearly Rs 2,000 per piece import cost that the nation was incurring earlier.
RIL is using high grade polypropylene to produce the equipment lending it more opacity while keeping it light weight. In addition, Ethylene Oxide is added to the material for improved sterilization. The material and manufacturing processes follow the ISO and BIS standards acceptable in India.
Reliance Industries this February had acquired 37.7 per cent stake in Alok Industries Ltd for Rs 250 crore. It had along with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd, bid for acquiring Alok Industries that was auctioned under the insolvency and bankruptcy law by lenders to recover their unpaid loans.
