Experts gathered at Clean India Show 2025 to share their thoughts on what’s good for the trade
On Day 2 of the Clean India Show 2025, the focus of the panel discussions was on how smarter and structured frameworks can improve customer handling and operational standards in the laundry industry.
Titled ‘Spin to Win: Smart Moves for Smarter Business Outcomes’, the discussion unfolded in three segments featuring insights from industry experts. In the first session ‘Raising the Bar – Standards for the modern laundry business’, Director of Beepee Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. Anup Poddar highlighted that the laundry industry had changed more in the past few years than it had in decades, with evolving customer expectations, advanced fabrics and chemicals, and rising importance of sustainability and energy efficiency. “Running a laundry is now about operational excellence, consistency, professionalism and, above all, standards,” he said.
Citing his visits to laundries across India, Poddar said that though there are passion and hard work, there is also heavy dependence on manual decisions, instincts and experience rather than data, systems and processes. “Businesses that depend on people struggle and have limited growth potential, while businesses driven by systems scale and achieve higher targets,” said Poddar.
Pointing out the challenges faced by the people in laundry business, Director of Cleanovo Chirag Bhatia said, “Most operators share the same anxiety — if a customer posts a review on Instagram, Google or elsewhere, many feel as though everything is collapsing and fear that shutters may not open the next day. This anxiety is heartbreaking, causing sleepless nights.”
Some attendees also shared similar experiences where cases even escalate into legal matters. “Customers commonly claim garments are new, gifted or invaluable and such anxieties need to be addressed through systematic frameworks,” said Bhatia.
The second session focused on laundry store management and running a profitable business, bringing together a panel comprising Asad Raja, Director, Edward Laundry Pvt. Ltd., Prachi Bhoir, CEO, Clezo, Rajesh Nair, Managing Partner, EcoClean Solutions & Sagar Sodha, National Head- Laundry Services, Jyothy Labs Limited.
Introducing the panel, the moderator Sagar Sodha remarked that running a profitable laundry business is a topic that has surfaced consistently since 2015 and continues to be central to operators across the country. The discussion centred on learnings from each panellist’s journey in the sector and the challenges typically faced in the initial years of building a retail laundry business.
Nair opened the introductions by sharing that his Pune-based business, which began in March 2014 with one factory and one store, grew to one factory and three stores before eventually consolidating operations back to a single factory. “The evolution of my business over 12 years reflects the path many operators go through,” he said.
Talking about the common challenges operators typically encounter in the first and second years of starting a laundry business, Bhoir said, “When we launched our first live laundry store five years ago, we were a small team with limited funds, building a brand from the ground up. The biggest challenge in the early phase came from the skill levels of manpower, most of whom came from an unorganised background with traditional habits such as using caustic soda. Shifting them to eco-friendly solvents was difficult, especially as Clezo was determined to position itself as a sustainable, value-driven brand.”
Bhoir added that the networks within the Dry-Cleaners and Launderers Association of India (DLAI) helped them connect with fellow launderers, dry cleaners and vendors, which became important whenever they expanded from a single store to multiple stores.
According to Nair, the lack of guidance in the early stages makes new operators vulnerable to whatever advice they receive from machine and chemical suppliers, who become their “best friends” by default. “With no community support, operators tend to believe whatever they are told, often spending money based on incomplete understanding,”
he said.
Reflecting on the experience of onboarding franchisees, Sodha remarked that profitability needs to be balanced with cost efficiency.
In the third session of the panel discussion, speakers addressed a common concern among both new and expanding laundry operators: How to choose the right machines. Having Akash Dharamsey, Director of ADD Laundry Concepts Private Limited and Zehen Arora, Director-Sales at Stefab India & Jash Dalal, Founder, The Laundry Concierge Pvt Ltd as panellists, the session offered several practical takeaways for business owners looking to build or expand their laundry operations.
Stating that the starting point must be clarity about the business model, the speakers stressed that even newcomers must be clear about the customer segment they will serve and have at least a basic estimate of how many garments — or in institutional cases, kilograms — they plan to process daily.
“Garments must be separated by fabric before deciding whether they require water-based laundry or solvent-based dry cleaning. Multi-solvent machines accommodate various hydrocarbon solvents and that a laundry cannot run on a dry-cleaning machine alone; a water-based washing machine is also essential,” they said.
The conference also featured a practical session by Orgaearth on Stain Removal or Best Techniques for ironing, finishing and packaging. A company representative addressed one of the most common operational challenges faced by laundry professionals — effective stain management. He explained the different types of stains and how their behaviour varies depending on fabric composition, emphasising that each stain requires a specific chemical formulation.
Highlighting that stain removal is not always a linear process, the expert advised operators to experiment with combinations of chemicals when a single solution does not work, and to document outcomes by creating experience-based charts. Such charting, he noted, plays a crucial role in building in-house expertise over time.
While the live demonstration was shifted to the company’s stall due to logistical constraints, participants were guided through the stain-removal setup, including the use of specialised machines that dispense chemicals, water and steam through different nozzles. The stall demonstration showcased commonly encountered stains and the chemicals typically used for their treatment, along with reference charts outlining recommended solutions.