IPA is poised to transform the plumbing industry and making India into a water positive nation.

Gurmit Singh Arora, National President, Indian Plumbing Association

Could you please brief us on the current market trends for the Indian plumbing industry and the demand-supply scenario for different verticals?

The construction industry had already undergone various necessary, but hastily infused seven reforms including GST, RERA, Benami Act, Indian Bankruptcy Code etc. and such reforms which were hastily introduced in 2018-19, have had a negative impact on the industry. These seven tsunami reforms impacted the industry in a big way, slowing down construction activity in the country.

The Covid 19 crisis further impacted the construction industry. The plumbing industry relies on two major veins i.e. new construction whether commercial or residential, including infrastructure projects, and the replacement market through the retail segment. The Indian plumbing industry has to rely on the retail, rebuild and new construction sectors and hence has been severely impacted this year both in terms of sales and cash flows. The infusion by the Government of India through various schemes has been less than 1% of GDP and therefore revival of the plumbing sector will only take place once the economy improves and the demand for housing, hotels and commercial establishments resumes.

What has been the impact of the pandemic on this segment so far?

The Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) has been around 10% p.a. so far for plumbing in our country. Focus amongst builders has changed to respect plumbing installations, moving to Codal based installation with consultant recommended specifications and products. There is therefore a clear cut recognition that plumbing is one of the important arteries of a building, and needs to be carefully segmented and planned with the architectural drawings, well in advance, to ensure that there is no compromise in the installation. With the added demand for water, increased drastically due to the pandemic for disinfection, hygiene and hand washing the importance of plumbing cannot be hence discounted, in the crisis of the Covid 19 onslaught.

What are the key continuing challenges which you foresee impacting the economy?

As the lockdown eases and the government of India plans to provide 30 liters of water per capita per day to every village and every citizen of the country, with the 'Nal Se Jaal' project. This will certainly have an impact on the already stressed water resources. Unless we minimize our water consumption at source and meter all usage, treat and recycle all waste water for reuse, and rain water harvests every drop of water, we will not have water for tomorrow. Please understand over 70% of the water supply goes for agriculture to meet the increased demand of food production. As our population increases, so will there be a stress on our already stressed water supplies.  India has the disadvantage of having 17% of the world's population but only 4% of the world's fresh water. This puts us in a very precarious position as our growth rate in population increases, so will the stress on the already overstretched fresh water availability.

What do you think the major focus areas that need to be addressed to 'Rebuild India' with a strong and vibrant economy?  What are your suggestions and expectations?

To rebuild India, we need to restart all the closed projects and waive off restrictions on travel to the maximum extent possible. We need to restart activities in a phased manner and get back to normal working conditions with the availability of local transportation for staff travel. The government of India needs to change to a friendly approach with its investors, pay committed GST to the states which was committed by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, as the commitment to pass the GST Act. The government's package especially for emergency credit loan facilities for MSME and SSI sector has helped many industry in taking loans to restart their activities. A vibrant economy means a healthy construction industry and automobile sector.

What further measures / reforms should be undertaken by the states / central government?

The government needs to give concessions on investments, curtail unnecessary imports to fuel local manufacturing. To do so, industrial estates need to be facilitated with uninterrupted power and water supplies, less bureaucratic control and interference so that companies are attracted to invest in India. Today India has become an importer, rather than a manufacturing hub, and 'Make in India' for the private sector is only a slogan. The government has not implemented major reforms and now only have implemented some labour reforms, after promising the same over several years.

70% of the rural households depend on agriculture. Agriculture is an important spoke of the Indian economy, providing employment to over 60% fellow citizens and contributing approx. 17% of the total GDP. Even after being such a big contributor, the government has not focused on farmers' education and skilling, yield increase, crop rotation education, mechanization in farming etc. We are still a decade away from farm to house concept and even now there is lack of negligent cold storage facilities. Farmers have to fend for themselves and sell their produce much cheaper than the cities, warped with heavy interest and debt, and still relying on the 'Rain Gods' for success.

Agriculture and construction both are big users of plumbing equipment i.e. pipes, fittings and other accessories and it is only revival of these two sectors, will the plumbing Industry revive.

Post gradual opening-up, how do you see the impact on the investment scenario in this sector?

I personally see an uptick and revival in demand for the plumbing industry. However, I do not see much investment taking place at present, as negativity has crept in and negativity leads to a very cautious approach. For economies to do well, an animal instinct and behaviour have to creep in, to instil positivity and thereby growth potential. Growth cannot be achieved with a 'push situation' but we need to create a 'market pull' to achieve growth. I am quite optimistic that industry would like to get back to its earlier demand and supply scenario and therefore, I am seeing an increase in demand for plumbing products since the beginning of October, 2020. The sales in Dussehra have been positive and have shown the resilience of the Indian economy, to get back to its original levels.

What measures should the government undertake towards the migrant labourers and employment generation?

The government faulted greatly not looking at the experience of countries including Iran, China, Spain, Italy, Germany, where the virus had already spread. The government thought that by imposing a porous lockdown, they can stop spreading the virus. Many of our metro cities have migrant labour, staying in hutment colonies and due to an imposed lock down, the labour were left to fend for themselves without daily wages. The government should have offered suitable transportation so that these labour could go back to their villages, rather they have created confusion, messed up the situation and lot of migrant labour moved back from metro cities to their villages on foot.

As the Indian economy opens up, the requirement for migrant labour for domestic help, industrial employment and self employment will increase and therefore, there is already a reverse migration taking place in most of the metros. Again stricter measures are being imposed due to the virus prevention and therefore lot of labour is not willing to get tested as they feel if they are found positive, they will be put in government hospitals for treatment forcibly.

Government must envisage free testing for migrant labour and provide adequate  transportation for return of the labour from various states like Bihar & U.P. to come and again  take employment as they had earlier, as the economy opens up, so will employment generation.

What is your outlook on this segment in terms of product / technology in terms of materials and system used, especially post Covid era?

There are a lot of evolving technologies, a focus on moving projects towards Nett Zero or less consumption of energy, water and less generation of waste. There are many projects now which do not require energy and water or discharge their waste into the municipal grid. Products are being used which are moving to using materials in abundance rather than in depletion, with the mantra 'Reduce, Reuse & Recycle'. The same is the case for plumbing materials, where we are looking at low water consumption   or  low waste discharge,  so the less the discharge and thereby less water treatment.

What contributory role is expected to play by IPA in the transformation of this segment?

Indian Plumbing Association (IPA)  has contributed widely in not only bringing  recognition to the industry but also transforming the industry in making plumbing installations codal and specification based, with a focus on low water consumption, treatment of all waste water and generation of additional water through rain water harvesting. IPA through it's 'I Save Water Mission' save 133 crore litres of water in 2019, this year's target is to save approx. 500 crore litres of water, however, this is set back due to now Covid 19 requirements of water.

IPA has grown over 80% over the last three years and this itself show cases the availability of higher plumbing technologies, better codes and standards and thereby better plumbing installations which now require complex design parameters. IPA has transformed into a vibrant organization and has signed MoUs with CREDAI, NAREDCO, IIID, ISHRAE, IGBC& FSAI and is poised to transform the industry and making India into a water positive nation.

I conclude a quote by a Canadian –French Astrophysicist – Hubert Reeves – Man is the
most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible nature, unaware that this nature he is destroying is the god that he is worshipping!

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