Unitech Fibres Limited used virgin PET chips for 19% in FY26

Unitech Fibres Limited manufactured recycled polyester staple fibre from polyester waste and PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, materials, but also purchased Rs 28.28 crore of virgin PET chips in FY26. The chips were 18.97% of Rs 149.06 crore in raw-material purchases and were used for fibre requiring higher strength and durability.

How does Unitech Fibres make recycled staple fibre?

Unitech Fibres makes recycled polyester staple fibre, or RPSF, from PET flakes, polyester waste and other polyester materials processed to customer specifications. RPSF generated Rs 219.85 crore, or 98.04%, of FY26 revenue from operations of Rs 224.24 crore, making it the company’s principal product category.

PET flakes are processed and cleaned PET waste, principally sourced from used PET bottles and other PET products, according to the prospectus. Polyester waste includes textile-manufacturing scraps, used garments and other polyester products. Unitech Fibres undertakes in-house processing only for textile-based PET waste, while other forms of PET waste are procured as flakes.

The production process begins with procurement, inspection and sorting of materials, including checks on purity, moisture content and consistency. Material is cleaned and pre-processed, melted in extruders, filtered, spun into undrawn spun tow, drawn, crimped, dried and cut to the required length. PET flakes are mixed with master batches, whiteners and silicon oils to produce specified brightness, colour and opacity before the fibre is packed in bales.

Unitech Fibres operated two manufacturing units in Tarapur, Maharashtra, with combined installed capacity of 27,984 metric tonnes per annum, or MTPA, as of the prospectus date. The units produced 25,422.34 MTPA in FY26, equal to 90.85% utilisation, compared with 25,465.84 MTPA and 90.98% utilisation in FY25. Unit 1 operated at 86.22% in FY26 and Unit 2 at 94.42%.

Why did Unitech Fibres use virgin PET chips for 19% of FY26 purchases?

Unitech Fibres says it primarily uses virgin PET chips because their purity and consistent quality help it manufacture fibres requiring higher strength and enhanced durability. PET chips are polymer-resin pellets manufactured from PET, and the company says they enable finer-quality fibre that meets specified customer requirements and quality standards.

PET-chip purchases rose to Rs 28.28 crore in FY26 from Rs 27.11 crore in FY25 and Rs 20.80 crore in FY24. Their purchase share increased to 18.97% in FY26 from 17.79% in FY25 and 15.56% in FY24. The rising share means the company’s RPSF product range includes grades for which it uses virgin resin alongside recycled feedstocks.

PET flakes remained Unitech Fibres’ largest input category at Rs 70.70 crore, or 47.43% of FY26 purchases, compared with 50.28% in FY25. Polyester-waste purchases increased to Rs 39.96 crore in FY26 from Rs 39.16 crore in FY25, while their share rose to 26.81% from 25.70%. Total purchases declined by Rs 3.31 crore between FY25 and FY26 despite the increase in PET-chip purchases.

What does the virgin PET-chip use mean for Unitech Fibres’ recycling model?

Unitech Fibres’ stated business is the conversion of PET waste and polyester waste into RPSF, but its disclosed FY26 purchase mix was not solely recycled material. Virgin PET chips represented Rs 28.28 crore of the Rs 149.06 crore purchased, and the prospectus identifies higher strength, durability and fibre quality as the reasons for using those chips.

The company holds ISO 14001:2015 certification for its environmental management system, ISO 9001:2015 certification for its quality management system, an Oeko-Tex Eco-Passport certificate and a Global Recycled Standard, or GRS, Version 4.0 scope certificate. The certifications concern stated environmental, quality or recycled-content frameworks, while the raw-material table separately records PET-chip purchases as a category of input.

Unitech Fibres reported Rs 4.40 crore of FY26 revenue from other products and services, or 1.96% of revenue from operations. That category includes extended producer responsibility, or EPR, credit, RoDTEP, scrap sales and RPSF fibre waste. EPR is the framework under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 that assigns plastic-waste management responsibility to producers, manufacturers and bulk generators; Unitech Fibres says recycling plastic waste makes it eligible for EPR credit.

The scale of virgin-chip use can persist if customers continue to require fibre grades with the strength, durability and consistent quality cited by Unitech Fibres. The composition can also change with the availability of PET flakes, polyester waste and other materials, because the company buys all raw materials domestically and generally does not enter into long-term supply contracts.

How dependent is Unitech Fibres on suppliers and customers?

Unitech Fibres sourced all raw materials from domestic suppliers in FY26 and normally bought through mutual understanding and established relationships rather than long-term contracts. Its top supplier accounted for Rs 23.52 crore, or 15.78%, of FY26 purchases, while its top 10 suppliers accounted for Rs 96.35 crore, or 64.64%.

Supplier concentration increased from 57.83% for the top 10 suppliers in FY25 to 64.64% in FY26. The same top-10 share was reported in FY24, when the company’s total raw-material purchases were Rs 133.69 crore. The prospectus does not disclose supplier names, citing commercial confidentiality.

Customer concentration was lower than supplier concentration in FY26. The top 10 customers generated Rs 103.02 crore, or 45.94%, of FY26 sales, compared with 45.07% in FY25. The largest customer contributed Rs 26.56 crore, or 11.84%, of FY26 revenue from operations.

End-market revenue shifted toward automobiles in FY26. Automobile customers contributed Rs 81.05 crore, or 36.14%, compared with Rs 59.92 crore, or 26.46%, in FY25, while home-furnishing revenue declined to Rs 104.20 crore, or 46.47%, from Rs 120.37 crore, or 53.16%. Customer demand across those sectors can affect the specification mix for which Unitech Fibres uses virgin PET chips.

What could change Unitech Fibres’ raw-material mix?

Unitech Fibres is establishing Unit 3 at Anklas, Umbergaon, Valsad, Gujarat, on about 47,494 square metres of land acquired for Rs 21.52 crore. The proposed facility is intended to collect and process used PET bottles and textile waste for RPSF production, consolidating these recycling activities at one location. The company has not disclosed Unit 3’s capacity or commissioning date.

The company also plans infrastructure for collecting, sorting, segregating, recycling and processing industrial polyester line waste. This pre-consumer waste includes yarn waste and spinning waste and is described as high-purity PET suitable for technical-grade fibre. Unitech Fibres says the infrastructure is intended to process such waste efficiently and support specialty-grade production, but it has not quantified expected feedstock volumes.

Existing facilities had utilisation above 90% in FY24, FY25 and FY26, with combined utilisation of 92.32%, 90.98% and 90.85%, respectively. Unit 3 could add production capacity and waste-processing capability, but its effect on PET-chip purchases, revenue or product mix remains undisclosed and depends on construction, feedstock sourcing and customer demand.

Conclusion

Unitech Fibres is a producer of RPSF with PET flakes and polyester waste as major inputs, but its FY26 disclosures show that virgin PET chips had a material role in manufacturing. The company purchased Rs 28.28 crore of PET chips, equal to 18.97% of total raw-material purchases, for fibre grades requiring higher strength, durability and consistent quality.

The disclosed development to watch is Unit 3 in Valsad and the planned industrial polyester-waste processing infrastructure. These projects are intended to increase collection and processing of used PET bottles, textile waste, yarn waste and spinning waste, but Unitech Fibres has not disclosed their capacity, completion date, feedstock volumes or impact on virgin PET-chip use.