Another art that Nilkamal has mastered is material handling equipment. Gone are the days when products such as milk or soft drinks were carried in a wooden container. All of these are replaced by lightweight plastic containers, most of it coming from Nilkamal. "Again we are pioneers in this arena and way ahead of competition in business," Parekh mentions.

"Furniture and material handling are our core businesses," he continues. But the family run business hasn't stopped there. Nowadays Nilkamal is also known for its construction equipment. The earlier used metal barricades are now getting replaced by plastic ones. "As plastic is lightweight, weather-proof and does not rust, it turns out to be a great material for these barricades," asserts Parekh.

But why is this material is so close to him and to the company? "Plastic is an eco-friendly material. First and foremost it requires much lesser energy for production in its lifecycle as compared to other conventional materials. Moreover, it saves wood cutting to some extent by replacing wood used in the furniture. And of course, it has its other advantages such as aesthetics, weather-proof, water resistance, etc. Also, it is recyclable and reusable. So I believe plastic is the clever solution."

Moving on from core businesses
Innovation has been a part of the company since its inception. Continuing the trend Nilkamal has ventured to various new areas even lately. "We realised that we have to leverage on our brand name and also on distribution strength that we have across the
country. That led to the thought that why don't we tie up with appropriate companies to offer products which are need of the hour. Also, as the government is focusing on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, our new innovations are in line with the prime Minister's objectives," Parekh says.

Speaking on its products that are made for rural India, he explains "Water Wheel is especially made for women who carry the litres of water on their heads and walk for kilometres. The practice of head loading can cause chronic back, neck, and eye pain, curvature of the spine, and can lead to death during childbirth," he raises his concern. To overcome this challenge, Nilkamal and Wello together have launched Water Wheel. As the name suggests it's a water carrier which can be filled and carried with push or pull. It prevents women from carrying heavy loads on their heads," he informs. Further he shares that, the product is well received by rural women.

Another masterpiece that the company has developed is Sato Pan. "In order to solve the problem of open defecation, we tied up with Lixil of Japan to develop these pans," he mentions. The problem of open defecation comes from lack of toilets and even if there are toilets, availability of water is a major concern. "Considering these challenges, we have developed Sato Pans. Where the normal toilet flush consumes 8ltr of water each time, this pan does the job in approx. 1.5 ltr," Parekh says.

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