Responsive Industries dominates Indian bus flooring business

Responsive Industries Ltd. (RIL), the Rs. 1,000-crore public listed company started around 12 year ago by the Aggarwal family, is into many different products, including vinyl flooring primarily used in buses, rail and the hospital and healthcare sector.

According to Mr. Abhishek Agarwal of RIL, bus is a significant part of the total annual business of close to Rs. 100 crores for the company. RIL has been catering to the bus segment right from the beginning covering all major vehicle manufacturers like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mercedes, Volvo, Eicher Motors and Irizar-TVS. It offers 22 different types of products for the bus and coach segment, ranging from the economical to the premium product.

He says the product offered for the bus segment is primarily a PVC vinyl flooring product, and RIL is the only company in the whole of Asia to offer PUR reinforced technology products. This technology helps increase the life of the product and makes it scratch-free. The company has developed all its products on 100 per cent indigenous technology. It is also a major exporter of these products to nearly 60 countries worldwide.

Some of the prestigious orders secured by RIL include supplies to Tata Marcopolo buses run by DTC and to the recently launched Mercedes buses. “In fact, when Tata-Marcopolo was looking for suitable suppliers in India for the DTC buses, they found RIL as the only company capable of supplying as per their requirement. Marcopolo has now chosen RIL for supplying to some of its global requirements as well”, adds Mr. Agarwal.

The other important orders include those for Volvo buses supplied to BMTC in Bangalore, MTC in Chennai, Tamilnadu State Transport Corporation and APSRTC.
Mr. Aggarwal further says: “Since we manufacture with our own indigenous technology, we are able to offer superior quality products at very competitive price. We have been certified by American and European labs, including CE and IMO certification”.

All RIL products are eco-friendly, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. The company, a member of the Green Council of the US, is also a major supplier to the Indian Railways with over 95% marketshare in this segment. It has also recently tied up with the Delhi Metro and will start supplies to it soon.
RIL has 80 per cent bus marketshare in India. Registering a 25 per cent growth year on year, RIL has a pan-Indian network with more than 150 distributors. The Tusker brand is the most trusted in vinyl flooring business.