Grasim Industries Limited is the flagship company of Aditya Birla Group. It started as a textiles manufacturer in India in 1947. Today, it has evolved into a leading diversified player with leadership presence across many sectors. It is a leading global producer of Viscose, Diversified Chemicals, Linen Yarn and Fabrics producer in India.
The company recently has entered paints business under the brand name ‘Birla Opus’ and would be setting up six plants of manufacturing decorative paints across Pan India locations.
Leveraging the Group synergies, Grasim has launched “Birla Pivot”, the B2B online marketplace for building materials. Through its subsidiaries, UltraTech Cement, Aditya Birla Capital and Aditya Birla Renewables, it is also India’s prominent cement producer, leading diversified financial services player and clean energy solutions player.
Grasim has a strong presence in the market through following businesses:
Viscose Staple Fibre
Grasim is India's pioneer in VSF — a man-made, bio-degradable fibre that is fast emerging as a sustainable alternative to cotton. A versatile fibre, VSF is used in apparel, home textiles, dress materials, knit wears and non-woven applications. Grasim’s business, Birla Cellulose, has a range of fibres which can be used in their original form, or can be blended with all natural and synthetic fibres for enhanced comfort and feel.
Starting production in 1954 at Grasim’s Nagda facility, the business has grown steadily over seven decades. The Pulp & Fibre Business of Grasim derives its competitive edge from its integrated business model, with captive raw materials - dissolving grade wood pulp, caustic soda, carbon-disulphide, power generation and steam.
Birla Cellulose’s product portfolio includes Livaeco™ by Birla Cellulose, Birla Modal™, Birla Excel™, Birla Viscose™ and Birla Spunshades™. Birla Cellulose fibres are of natural origin, moisture absorbent, have soft feel, and are completely biodegradable.
Viscose Filament Yarn
Grasim Industries Limited is the largest viscose filament yarn (VFY) manufacturer in India and the 3rd largest globally. The company is also the largest VFY exporter in India with exports to 45 countries.
VFY business became a part of Grasim Industries Limited on 1st July 2017, following the merger of Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited. Subsequently, Grasim acquired the rights to operate and manage the Century Rayon division of Century Textiles and Industries Limited (CTIL) from 1st February 2018. Since then, Grasim’s VFY production capacity has increased to 48 KTPA.
Represented as the brand Raysil® (formerly known as RayOne), VFY is of 100% natural origin and its product portfolio includes 20 deniers to 1200 deniers of both bright and dope dyed viscose filament yarns. Its versatility, superior drape, fluidity and lustre make it a popular choice for manufacturing fabrics such as georgettes, crepes, chiffons, and many more.
Grasim’s VFY is manufactured at its twin locations in Shahad, Maharashtra and Veraval, Gujarat.
Chemicals
In 1972, Grasim’s chemicals business was set up to manufacture caustic soda for the company’s VSF unit. Today, it is one of India’s largest caustic soda producers and is a market leader in the chlor-alkali segment. Over the years, Grasim’s chemicals business has created a strong foothold in the industry and offers a wide range of products from chlorine derivatives to epoxy.
Chlor-alkali: In 2016, Grasim’s merger with Aditya Birla Chemicals India Ltd. (ABCIL) helped catapult the company’s caustic soda capacity from 452 KTPA to 884 KTPA making it the largest producer of caustic soda in India back then. Today, Grasim’s total caustic soda capacity is 1,290 KTPA. Through brownfield expansion, Grasim plans to expand the caustic soda capacity to 1,530 KTPA from 1,290 KTPA by 2024.
The business uses cost-effective membrane cell technology and is largely self-sufficient in power. For gainful utilisation of chlorine, the business has portfolio of chlorine derivatives like Stable Bleaching Powder (SBP), Polyaluminium Chloride (PAC), Chlorosulphonic Acid (CSA), Chlorinated Paraffin Wax (CPW), Calcium Chloride (CaCl), Aluminium Chloride (AlCl) and Chloromethane (CMS).
Epoxy: The business’ epoxy products range from basic products like liquid epoxy resins to value added products like formulated resins, reactive diluents and hardeners. The manufacturing complex at Vilayat houses a 123 KTPA capacity epoxy plant. Through expansion, Grasim plans to double the epoxy capacity to 246 KTPA by FY2024.
Textiles
Grasim ventured into the textiles industry in 1949 by setting up Jaya Shree Textiles at Rishra, West Bengal. Today, Jaya Shree Textiles is one of India’s leading linen and wool manufacturers. It has four strategic business units (SBUs) i.e., linen spinning, linen fabric, wool combing and worsted spinning. Today, Jaya Shree Textiles sells its products in over 50 countries, spanning across six continents.
Jaya Shree Textiles has provided the evolving Indian fashion industry with an international edge. Finest flax is sourced from France, Belgium and other parts of Europe to make 100% pure linen. Cutting edge European technology is used to spin the fibres, weave and dye them which makes it unique and difficult to replicate. This superior technology also enables Jaya Shree Textiles to manufacture over 3000 different types of weaves, textures and blends. The company has significantly revolutionised the Indian textile market by popularising linen in India across a wide customer base with its brand ‘Linen Club’.
Linen Club is the largest linen fabric brand in India with expertise in linen manufacturing and design, for more than 70 years. Linen Club is the pioneer of linen in India and is now retailed through both exclusive retail outlets and multi-brand outlets. It is the largest linen retail chain in the world.
Know more about Linen Club (Link to Linen Club Page)
Insulators
Aditya Birla Insulators is India’s largest manufacturer of electrical insulators and is amongst the top four insulator manufacturers globally. It produces the widest range of insulators in India including insulators for transmission lines & substations up to 1200 kV voltage level, as well as equipment & railways. Its total installed manufacturing capacity is 56,400 TPA with specialisation in both ceramic and composite insulators. The company commissioned Composite Hallow Core Insulators (CHCI) plant at Halol which is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Power Composites Limited (ABPCL) with Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH of Germany in 2019.
Know more about Aditya Birla Insulators (Link to Aditya Birla Insulators’s page) and Aditya Birla Power Composites Limited (Link to Composite’s business page)
Paints
Through Birla Opus, Grasim aims to be one of the biggest players in the fast-growing decorative paints industry. It plans to set up six manufacturing plants in Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and West Bengal till FY 2025 with a total capacity of 1,332 MLPA and a project cost of ₹10,000 Crore.
The trial run for Birla Opus’s three plants began in the third quarter of FY23-24. It’s painting service, branded as PaintCraft, had completed projects at more than 150 sites by December 2023.
B2B E-Commerce
Birla Pivot, the B2B e-Commerce platform for building solutions, is a business unit of Grasim Industries Ltd. Birla Pivot will primarily focus on MSMEs in the Building Materials segment with the potential to further extend to other relevant categories. It’s key value proposition is an integrated procurement solution including on-time delivery and a superior product range at competitive pricing.
Covering a spectrum of building materials, Birla Pivot aims to become a one-stop destination for all procurement needs. Birla Pivot has already onboarded over 120 brands and 5500+ SKUs (stock keeping units), providing its customers with a diverse range of categories & products. These categories are steel, cement, tiles & surfaces, ply & laminates, doors, windows, sanitary & bath fitting, among others. The platform is rapidly launching across North, West & South India.
