Being home to the world’s second-largest population and being one of the fastest developing nations globally, India is on the cusp of a massive transformation in terms of industrialization and urbanization. As a result, the government has launched a series of initiatives such as Make in India, Jal Jivan Mission, and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan which are providing massive opportunities for a wide variety of industries. Among all other industries, one vertical that has been gathering a lot of traction in recent times is the plastics industry.
Due to the humongous applications that plastic can be used in and the various advantages it offers, the plastic industry is showcasing a significant growth rate both in terms of manufacturing and exports. As per a recent study by Maximize Market Research, the Indian plastics market which stood at $36.07 billion in 2020 is expected to be worth $56.42 billion by 2027, with the revenue growing at a CAGR of 6.6 percent during the forecast period.
While there are a host of manufacturing firms that are currently operating in the market, one company that stands a notch higher than the rest is Chennai-based Vibrant Colortech. Founded in 2016 by Manish Khanna (Managing Director), the company is a part of the Vibrant Group which comprises of two entities – Vibrant Colortech and Vibrant Speciality, each operating in different verticals and market segments. Focusing especially on manufacturing masterbatches additives and compounds, Vibrant Colortech today has created a niche for itself in the industry through its high-quality standards, a wide portfolio of offerings, and industry best practices.
“Currently worth $1.5 billion, the Indian masterbatch market is growing at a rate of 11 percent CAGR and is expected to be worth $2.2 billion by 2026-27. Although masterbatch and additive comprise only 2-3 percent of the polymer, but they contribute an aesthetic appeal and change the basic properties of the entire matrix. Masterbatch and additives combination are so crucial that a wrong selection or sub-standard quality masterbatch impacts 97-98 percent of polymer also which a customer mixes to achieve a shade/ color & properties.
A customer failing to find the right shade and quality of masterbatch it will have an adverse impact on the remaining 97 percent of the polymer. Thus, customers face a lot of hassles in terms of finding a masterbatch that is both long-lasting and enhances the properties of the polymer as per their requirements & use cases. As an innovative masterbatch manufacturer, we handhold our clients in this entire process and even advise them in terms of the quantity and quality of the products that are to be used”, says Manish, explaining the current industry scenario and customer pain points.
Diverse Portfolio of Products
Focusing only on solid form masterbatches, Vibrant Colortech manufactures a wide range of products such as additive, black, white, color, and special effect masterbatches. Some of the major primary polymer additives that the company offers include Optical Brightener, Anti-Scratch, Antimicrobial, Anti-termite, Strength Enhancer, VCI, Anti-block, PPA, Antioxidants, UV additives, Anti-split for PET strap, and Nucleating Agent, to name a few. Each of these additives acts as value enhances to customers’ products by enabling them to have a wide variety of features/characteristics as per their needs.
Not stopping there, Vibrant Colortech is also actively engaged in offering a variety of compounds, blends, and alloys to niche industry verticals such as electrical, automotive, home appliances, telecommunications, and many more. The prominent products under this category include glass-filled compounds, FR compounds, talc/mica-filled compounds, Abs/PC alloys, nanocomposites, pre-colored compounds, and silicon-based compounds.
“We are one of the first companies to foray into the floater solar technology space.
We are preferred channel partners to many unicorn industries for solar floater parks which makes us a step further towards a green energy. Another flagship offering of ours is the Engineering Plastic Masterbatches such as PC, POM, Poly Amide, Poly ketone, PPS, ASA, and more, which are today seen as the perfect replacements for metals across many industries. Additionally, we are trying to help our country’s farmer community to adopt the latest global practices and be able to cultivate 3-4 crops every year by providing agriculture products and essentials such as mulchings, shade nets, and many others”, says Manish.
Expertise Area
There is one more market segment that reported substantial growth i.e. Compostable/Biodegradable segment. Vibrant has done extensive work in the biodegradable/compostable segment and extended many innovative products to replace SUP basic raw materials.
We are constantly re-inventing our technological capacities to ensure that our masterbatches not only make your product look great but also add functional value to it
Rigorous Quality Control
Since it is actively involved in diverse verticals, Vibrant follows a strict ‘No Compromise’ approach when it comes to the quality of its products and strongly believes that making a good one-time investment will definitely enhance productivity and yield better outcomes in the long run. Thus, the company only has imported manufacturing lines in place and prioritizes product quality and process efficiency over machinery costs. Additionally, Vibrant Colortech sources each of its raw materials from reputed vendors & suppliers and ensures to never change this source. Parallelly Vibrant maintains very strict quality control on incoming raw material in terms of shade, tone & properties. This way, they are able to not only produce high-quality products but also maintain uniformity in terms of quality standards and raw material specifications, which has been one of the key differentiators for us in the market.
“We understand that the right shade of masterbatch not only enhances the look and appeal of a product, but also significantly increases its sales appeal, and functionality and has the potential to become the ‘USP’ of a class of products. Our extremely high-quality, resilient, and saturated masterbatches gives an aesthetic look to a wide array of plastic products – in any imaginable color. Thus, we are constantly re-inventing our technological capacities to ensure that our masterbatches not only make your product look great but also add functional value to it. Our vast industry experience has enabled us to even advise clients on various aspects whenever they are skeptical or in a dilemma”, Manish adds further.
Client Satisfaction – The Top Priority
Keeping customer satisfaction as paramount, Vibrant Group follows a unique client engagement process wherein it first understands its customers’ requirements and their line of business. This includes information about various factors such as exposure to sunlight, the nature of the application (indoor/outdoor), its usage in the market, and others. Only after this does it proceed with the development of the final recipe of the product based on requisites mandated by the customer.
"Our extremely high-quality, resilient, and saturated masterbatches give an aesthetic look to a wide array of plastic products – in any imaginable color"
Going the extra mile, the company stores the final formula and initial masterbatch sample of every product with itself so that even if a customer comes back a decade later asking for a particular product, it can easily provide the exact same product that was supplied so many years back. However, what sets Vibrant Colortech a notch higher than the rest of the companies in the market is its profound expertise in developing products that are a perfect balance of both customer and market requirements.
The founder Manish himself has been in this industry for close to three decades and has a clear understanding of the various nuances and intricacies involved in this line of business. Most of Vibrant Colortech’s production and development staff have been with Manish for 25 years now, and more than 100 of them have experience of 20+ years in the industry. This has been the secret recipe for the company to not only be in tandem with changing market dynamics but also better understand its client requirements and accordingly develop products that cater to clients’ every need.
Future Roadmap
Owing to its vast industry expertise and exceptional track record, Vibrant Group has managed to achieve a decent growth rate even during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2022-23, the company’s revenue totaled to Rs. 92 crore and is expected to reach Rs. 185-190 crore over the next four years. When asked about the company’s future roadmap, Manish elucidates, “Currently, we have a production capacity of 12,000 tons/year and export our products to 11 different countries worldwide.
Although there has been a growing demand for these products from North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and many other regions, we were unable to cater effectively due to our production capacity-related issues. Over the next 18 months, we will add seven new manufacturing lines, which will increase our production capacity by another 14-15,000 tons/year to successfully cater to many newer overseas clients. This way, we aspire to expand our footprint to newer geographies such as Russia and North America, where there is a huge demand for masterbatch products”.
Manish Khanna, Managing Director
A seasoned business professional, Manish has close to three decades of experience in the masterbatch and other allied products space. He incepted Vibrant Colortech in 2016 and has been the driving force behind the group’s success story so far.
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