A bulk of Paschal’s business was centered around providing top quality formwork material to measure clients in the country apart from our refurbishment services

In 2021 most of our customers were in a cautious mode when it came to buying new material so the idea of refurbishment was enticing by some of our clients says Mr. Manikandan Mahalingam, General Director, Paschal Formwork (India) Pvt Ltd.

How did the year 2021 prove to be, for your business?
Despite the Covid -19 induced challenges we were consistently in touch with our clients. And had taken good orders from different segments of bulk of our business was centered around providing top quality formwork material along with our refurbishment services which created a win-a-win situation for us and to our customers. Most of them were in a cautious mode when it came
to buying new material so the idea of refurbishment was enticing. Having said that there were also clients who took a leap of faith and made new purchases. This was only possible because our products have a longer shelf life owing to its superior quality. Most of these reputed clients work on varied projects which include roads bridges, buildings, industries, power projects and defense projects.

How do you view the recovery in the formwork market so far?
Though recovery sounds like a collective approach it always depends on organization and on the individual better responsible. To better extent we could able to manage in our respective business in this present situation. Managing business especially in 2022 required not only business strategies but beyond that, as cash flow was an issue with many of our clients. So our further steps will diffidently helps our client to cross this barrier. At Paschal we offered civil Engineering contractors best possible discounts to create a certain degree of confidence and ensure their work continues uninterrupted. This in a way help us as well as client were happy that they got the best price possible hence we never had to face any payment related issues either. As a policy we always opt for 100 percent advance payment, however we do offer certain relaxations to clients based on their credentials and also to our high value end user.

Pandemic aside, what are the other key challenges in the market currently?
The cost of the raw materials has become a key concern area and this in turn has led to an increase in production cost. Many contractors who are working on different projects are feeling the
pinch. Likewise, the lack of continuity of funds is also a nagging problem which is impacting on their ongoing projects and businesses. In such cases it is necessary for all the stakeholders
to come together and implement methods and strategies to ensure that all the projects continues uninterrupted.
What kind of policy support is required for the market revival?
As per the present market conditions, it is highly advisable to support all the MSME units and ensure they were sustain and recover since they play an important role in the development of
our nation and we are sure the government will also initiate certain policies to help all the MSME unit to get recovered and play a vital role per the continuity of the developments that our
scheduled as per the upcoming budgets.

18