Page 54 - CIJ May 2023 Digital Edition

Laundry

Railway BOOT laundries
Threats and opportunities

For many years, railway BOOT laundries looked like an established
model that was here to stay. Recent events suggest otherwise. From

reopening after lockdown to rising energy costs, dealing with old
and unused linen to an entirely new model for processing passenger

linen, BOOT laundry operators are up against a host of challenges.
Who better than Yashodhar Vallala, President, Railway Boot Laundry
Operators Association and CEO, Supreme Laundry Services to tell us

about these changes, and how they are being addressed?

Once the Railways restarted supply of
passenger linen, what challenges did
BOOT laundry operators continue to
face?
Since the laundries were shut for almost two years,
the biggest challenge was to revive and service the
machinery, and get the manpower back together. We
took time to restart units everywhere, because we didn’t
know when the order to restart would come. A lot of
money was spent in bringing them back to optimum
working condition.
Another challenge was the age of the linen which
had to be washed. After two years, the linen supply was
suddenly restarted and there was no time to procure
new linen. Handling linen which is 2-3 years old and
had been left unused for a long time was difficult.
The Railway Board has stipulated that the age of linen
should not be more than one or two years, but even now,
we are dealing with linen from 2019-20, because the
tender process to procure new linen takes time.

As Opex costs increase, how are BOOT
laundry operators able to sustain their
business?

The beauty of these long-term contracts is that there
is a price-variable clause (PVC) built in. For example,
at the time of tendering, say the rate was 15 rupees per
kg; this doesn’t mean that it will remain so for the entire
10-15 year life cycle of the contract. Every quarter,
there is a PVC correction of the price. For example, if
the rate was 15 rupees for a contract signed in 2017, it
would have become around 21 rupees by now.

MAY 2023•Clean India Journal
54 www.cleanindiajournal.com