Suba Plastics hopes for normalcy in mid-June even as Covid cases soar 

Coimbatore-based Suba Plastics is hoping for the clouds to clear by next month even while the second Covid wave is keeping everyone on their toes.

“Keeping the current situation in mind, we expect normalcy to return by mid-June. It will, however, be tough if cases keep increasing and lockdowns persist,” says Geetha Baskaran, Managing Director. 

The Tier I supplier has been around for over 30 years and caters to the needs of TVS Motor, Bosch, Valeo and many others. “May will be a tough month. We hope to stabilise by November or December and reach pre-Covid levels by January 2022,” continues Baskaran. 

There is a caveat here too as this projection depends on things getting normal. “It will be tougher if there is a third wave,” she says. For now, Suba is going flat out to vaccinate employees by tying up with CII and sharing the list with rural public health centres. Around 80 percent of employees are locals from the Coimbatore belt.

Last year was challenging enough for the company thanks to the first wave of the pandemic which saw a nationwide lockdown. The biggest task on hand at that time was liquidity management. Now with the second wave wreaking havoc, Suba is pulling out all the stops to ensure workers safety as well as keeping the balance sheet strong.

“We had projected Rs 60-70 crore sales last year but ended up with Rs 45 crore. It was a struggle to handle safety and finance but gradually orders began picking up and employees returned to the workplace,” says Baskaran.

From her point of view, this fiscal could see the same revenue of Rs 45 crore being achieved. “By the time the second wave started, our customers did not shut down and neither did we. Yet, it is important to carefully monitor the situation as it is much more serious than the first wave,”  she adds.

The silver lining in the cloud is that the Atmanirbhar momentum is gaining pace with OEMs now ordering more localised products even for export shipments. Likewise, the electric transition is also throwing up new customers. The not-so-happy news is relates to availability of raw materials which should hopefully be “normalised” by July.