Vande Bharat trains boost prospects of mattress brands like Sleepwell
Sheela Foam Ltd, which owns the popular household brand Sleepwell, expects Vande Bharat sleeper trains to open up business opportunities for mattress makers in the country. "India Railways has been boosting its efforts to improve the infrastructure of coaches and finding new space for import substitution such as the supply of foams to the railways, which were earlier imported. About 400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced by 2025, is about ₹40,000 crore of business coupled with jobs and other spin-off benefits," the company said in an investor presentation.
Sheela Foam is a market leader and the largest manufacturer of polyurethane (PU) foam in India. The company’s flagship brands include Sleepwell, Feather Foam and Lamiflex. The Sleepwell brand holds 30-35% market share.
The government has announced the start of roll out of Vande Bharat sleeper trains by next year. “The Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai is readying the design for sleeper variant VB trains by December-end. The first few trains will be ready by March 2024," railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said recently.
As part of its initiatives to make India self-reliant, the government wants to cut down on imports of not just foam but also rail wheels, among others. Indian Railways had previously handed out a contract to a consortium of TRSL and Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. to set up a wheel manufacturing plant to reduce their reliability on imports mainly from China. Sheela Foam plans to deploy more than ₹350 crore on capital expenditure in the current fiscal year, which will help the company boost production to 3,000 mattresses a day from 1,000 mattresses now.
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