Nitrile gloves firm Enliva to invest Rs 100 crore to scale operations

Time of India

5 days ago

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The Indian market is seeing a rise in the demand for nitrile gloves. According to Grand View Research, the market for nitrile gloves , crucial for handling hazardous chemicals, is projected to grow from $12.71 billion in 2024 to $20.71 billion by 2030, at an 8.5% CAGR (2025-2030).'The demand is being driven not just by healthcare, but by broader shifts in hygiene protocols across pharma, food, and industrial sectors. Asia-Pacific is leading this growth, with North America and Europe continuing to set the bar on compliance and quality,' said K. Anindith Reddy, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Enliva Enliva, a nitrile manufacturing company based out of Hyderabad, produces 1 million nitrile gloves daily and about 300 million nitrile gloves annually. The company is now set to invest Rs 100 crore to scale up operations. It is looking to add two lines to their current facility in Visakhapatnam and a new plant under evaluation for 2028.'Our goal is to build distributed, resilient capacity and respond faster to global demand shifts. We're also exploring strategic acquisitions and partnerships. Most importantly, this investment will deepen our R&D, building on our recent milestone of launching India's first accelerator-free nitrile glove,' he said.Enliva was founded in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 by Reddy, a member of Apollo Hospital Group's promoter family, and his associates Shaaz Mehmood and Ishaan Dodhiwala. During that period, there were many gaping holes in the healthcare supply chain, an important one being India's dependence on imported medical essentials like nitrile gloves.It wasn't just the shortage they noticed, but also the inferior, often rejected products being routed into the Indian market.'In 2021, we laid the groundwork for Wadi Surgicals (Envila's parent firm), our manufacturing unit inside the Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone in Visakhapatnam. By 2022, we commissioned India's first double-former nitrile dipping line, designed for both speed and precision. May 2023 was a key milestone-our first line went live,' he said.He pointed out that India is at a critical inflection point and is one of the top consumer bases globally for nitrile gloves, with annual demand exceeding 11 billion gloves.The nature of demand is changing as customers are increasingly looking for skin-safe, accelerator-free, globally compliant gloves. With evolving regulations, especially post-COVID, the need for high-performance, sustainably manufactured gloves is no longer optional, it's expected, Reddy said.'However, we still depend on imports for about 75% of our needs. That gap signals a massive opportunity for reliable, high-quality local production. We believe India can make for the world,' he said.One of the core issues plaguing the Indian glove industry is the lack of regulatory enforcement, he pointed out. While quality-conscious manufacturers invest in BIS-certified, skin-safe, non-chlorinated gloves, the market continues to be flooded with low-cost imports, many of which are chlorinated, poorly stored, or chemically unstable. 'These gloves often degrade quickly, cause skin irritation, and compromise long-term usability, especially for healthcare workers who wear them for hours each day,' he said.Another issue is the inverted duty structure under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, which further complicates things. Reddy explained that this agreement allows zero-duty imports from countries like Malaysia and Thailand, where manufacturers, backed by subsidies, can undercut Indian producers who are investing in compliance, R&D, and ethical manufacturing practices.'This makes it harder to compete on price without compromising on quality. We're tackling this by staying focused on building a differentiated, high-performance product. At Enliva, we've invested in producing accelerator-free nitrile gloves that are more durable, gentler on skin, and aligned with evolving global norms. We're also working actively with policymakers to push for Quality Control Orders, enforce BIS standards, and introduce anti-dumping duties to protect both consumers and compliant manufacturers,' he said.