How Pearl Global became a multinational powerhouse
In the global boardrooms of fashion retail, where sourcing strategies can make or break billion-dollar brands, a quiet Indian player has emerged as a preferred partner. Pearl Global Industries (PGIL), an exporter of shirts, has transformed itself into a multinational supply-chain powerhouse operating across 10 countries, with manufacturing operations in five.
From its factories in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and Guatemala, PGIL supplies to marquee names such as Kohl’s, PVH (Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger), Inditex (Zara, Bershka), Ralph Lauren, Gap, MUJI, Primark and many other brands across the globe. Its 25 manufacturing facilities and global design hubs in the US, the UK, Spain, Hong Kong, Hanoi, Dhaka and Gurgaon mean that Pearl is no longer just stitching garments – it is weaving itself into the very fabric of global fashion.
Pearl’s story begins in 1987, when Deepak Kumar Seth founded the company with a single export order of 6,000 shirts. India’s garment export ecosystem was still nascent; most players were either family-run tailoring units or merchant exporters with limited scale. Seth saw an opportunity to build a fully integrated garmenting company, focusing on quality, consistency and long-term relationships with international buyers.
Over the next two decades, Pearl quietly built trust with large retailers. By the 1990s, it had become a reliable supplier to major American chains. Unlike many exporters who competed purely on price, Pearl differentiated itself through delivery timelines and compliance. This early discipline laid the foundation for the multinational company it would one day become.
The architect of the company’s modern ambition is Pulkit Seth, Vice-Chairman of PGIL. Educated at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Pulkit entered the family business in the early 2000s, just as global apparel sourcing was undergoing structural change. The end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) and rising Chinese dominance meant that only players who could scale and globalise would survive.
Pulkit recognised that the exporter’s playbook would not be enough. “At Pearl Global, our vision is simple yet ambitious: to be the global leader in providing end-to-end supply-chain solutions for fashion,” he says. “That means we do not see ourselves as just a factory. We are partners in design, sourcing and delivery, bringing resilience and agility to an industry that is constantly disrupted.”
Under his leadership, Pearl expanded beyond Asia into Central America, building capacity in Guatemala to serve US retailers who wanted near-shore options. The company also invested in design centres across continents, ensuring it could influence styles even before fabrics hit the cutting floor. This shift from exporter to strategic partner is what now differentiates Pearl from dozens of other garment makers.
PGIL 2.0 moment
If Pulkit brought the vision, the turning point in execution came with the arrival of Pallab Banerjee as Group President and Managing Director in 2019. A GAP veteran with over two decades of global sourcing experience, Pallab knew precisely what global brands demanded. “When I joined, Pearl was already respected but needed sharper focus and stronger governance,” he recalls. “We had to prepare the company for the future – scale up, diversify our footprint and, above all, build credibility as a truly professional organisation.”
This period marked a cultural transformation within Pearl. For the first time, the promoter family consciously stepped back from day-to-day operations, empowering professional leadership. Global talent was brought into senior roles. The board added independent voices. Auditors and bankers were changed to align with global standards.
Pallab ushered in what insiders call PGIL 2.0 – a leaner, more transparent and more accountable organisation. Customer acquisition was sharpened, supply chains were diversified and capital expenditure was planned with rigour.
The impact was impressive. Between FY19 and FY24, PGIL’s EBITDA grew at nearly 28 per cent CAGR. Revenues doubled to Rs4,506 crore, while margins improved from barely 4 per cent to almost 10 per cent. The company is no longer seen as a mid-sized exporter but as a professionally run multinational.
At the heart of this transformation lies Sanjay Gandhi, Group CFO, who joined in late 2019, just as the apparel industry braced for the pandemic. Sanjay brought with him two decades of financial leadership across Olam International, Bharat Forge, a TrueNorth-owned entity, and Toshiba – roles that honed his skills in capital allocation, cost discipline and global operations.
During the pandemic, the world faced a grave challenge as factories closed, cash flows vanished and uncertainty ruled. Sanjay, however, saw in this crisis an opportunity to reset the company’s financial discipline. “We rebuilt the company’s financial architecture and governance during this period,” he explains. “We put in place capital allocation policies, professionalised our audits, and ensured every project was evaluated on return on capital employed. We wanted investors, banks and employees to know this was a company that valued discipline as much as ambition.”
Pearl brought in Big Four audit firms across geographies, established transparent investor relations, and executed a successful Rs149 crore QIP in 2024 that brought marquee institutions on board. The company’s ratings jumped from ICRA BBB+ to A (Stable)/A1, while its market cap soared from Rs400 crore in 2020 to over Rs6,600 crore by 2025.
Pearl’s timing could not have been better. The global apparel trade is undergoing a tectonic shift. Brands are diversifying away from China, embracing the ‘China+1’ strategy and consolidating their supplier bases.
The numbers tell the story: US apparel imports from China have fallen from 30 per cent in 2019 to just 22 per cent by 2023. At the same time, major retailers have dramatically shrunk their supplier networks. Gap, for instance, has cut its suppliers from over 1,000 to around 250 in less than a decade. For a company with multi-country presence, compliance and scale, Pearl has become a natural beneficiary.
Brokerages have taken notice. Avendus Spark pegs the company at Rs1,880 per share, Dalal & Broacha at Rs1,600 and Ventura at nearly Rs1,950 – all signalling 30-50 per cent upside. More importantly, they see Pearl joining the league of billion-dollar Asian peers within the next 5 years.
The company is investing Rs4,500-5,000 crore to increase production from 83.9 million pieces in FY24 to between 120 and 140 million by FY28. Much of this will be in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. In India, new interests in states like Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, regions where labour availability and infrastructure are improving, are being developed.
Diversification is equally key. US exposure, once as high as 86 per cent of revenue, has already reduced to below 50 per cent by FY25 as the share of non-US markets rose rapidly. In India, with the UK FTA signed and EU negotiations progressing, Europe is set to become a bigger contributor to Indian manufacturing as well. By FY28, Pearl projects revenues of over Rs6,000 crore, EBITDA margins of 11-12 per cent, and return ratios comfortably above 20 per cent.
Beyond numbers
Behind Pearl’s machines and spreadsheets is a story of people. The company employs over 30,000 workers worldwide, many of them women for whom these jobs mean financial independence and dignity. In the bustling floors of its Dhaka, Bihar and Gurgaon factories, young women learn to operate industrial machines, read patterns and master quality checks – often their first jobs outside their homes. Through Pearl Global Kaushal Vikas, many are trained, upskilled and offered long-term careers.
About 35 per cent of the energy consumed by Pearl Global factories is from renewable sources like solar energy. Water usage for garment washing at factories is measured and distinguished from human use, and all of it is recycled.
What makes Pearl’s story compelling is the leadership triad that drives it. Pulkit Seth articulates the ambition to be global. Banerjee translates that ambition into operational discipline and customer trust. Gandhi ensures that financial credibility matches business growth. Together, they have turned PGIL from a promoter-driven exporter into a professionally managed multinational. As Banerjee puts it: “PGIL’s business model is about scale with discipline. We are no longer just making garments; we are building a resilient, global ecosystem.”
Pulkit sums it up best: “The apparel industry is changing faster than ever before. At Pearl Global, we do not just want to adapt – we want to shape the future.”
From an export order of 6,000 shirts in 1987 to a Rs6,600 crore market-cap giant today, it is about exporting a new model of Indian enterprise – stitched with vision, discipline and purpose.