By Arbind Gupta. Assistant Editor, Business India

Mysuru-based Schevaran Laboratories Pvt Ltd, which makes a wide range of cleaning, hygiene and maintenance chemicals/ solutions, is ramping up its presence in a big way. The company, founded way back in 1988, is now setting up a state-of-the-art, 650-tonne manufacturing facility, to meet the increasing demand of these cleaning solutions in the rapidly-changing Indian Rs2,500-crore cleaning chemicals market place.

Recently, amidst rapidly-growing demand, the company, known for its pioneering efforts in developing and making eco-friendly formulations for the businesses (B2B) across sectors like ITeS, healthcare, food, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, FMCG, automobiles, manufacturing,  as also households, has already doubled its production to about 400 tonnes per month.   

The company has over 1,700 clients including Bengaluru and Delhi airports and office spaces of JLL, Quess, Sodexo, Italia and Embassy. It has cleaned up more than 300 million sq ft of space. Recently, amidst rapidly-growing demand, the company has doubled its production to about 400 tonnes per month.   

Moreover, it has entered into joint venture with Cleanfix AG, the Swiss cleaning machine maker. Under this new 50:50 JV, it is setting up a manufacturing facility in Mysuru, for a wide range of robotic hygiene and cleaning machines like sweeper suction machines, sweeping machines, single disc machines and scrubbers for airports, malls hotels, hospitals and offices.

The Rs60-crore manufacturing facility, expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2021, will cater not only to the Indian market, but also to Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, with world-class Swiss-technology products. Initially, the company has decided to make about 1,000 units, which will be scaled up as per the market demand, going forward. It employs about 100 people and has revenues of about Rs80 crore. 

Schevaran has been working with the Swiss company, even as it has been marketing Cleanfix machines in India market, for some years now. It is an exclusive distributor and strategic partner for Cleanfix cleaners, as also Filmop accessories and equipment. Filmop international, an Italian professional cleaning products major, has been in the market for over 40 years and is specialised in making manual cleaning equipment for professional use.  

“We want to align ourselves with the PM’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” says Sam Cherian, founder-managing director, Schevaran Laboratories. “And, towards this end, we have now joined hands with our Swiss partner to not only market its cleaning machines, but also make world-class machines in India for our domestic market, as well as for exports. By getting into the manufacture of these machines, we will become a one-stop solution provider across the cleaning and hygiene value chain, starting from cleaning chemicals to making machines for cleaning solutions”.

After having been in the industry for over three decades and having pioneered the local manufacturing of world-class cleaning and hygiene products in the domestic market, Cherian is now being joined by his son and daughter, who will build a management team that will drive the growth, going ahead.

“Today, India stands as a largest manufacturing hub for the world,” acknowledges Felix Ruesch, CEO, Cleanfix. “The availability of resources here, including the right talent pool, has attracted many global companies. Taking a note of it, we are happy to introduce our patent-led manufacturing technology into the Indian markets”.