Tekno Valves has been at the forefront of the Covid-19 response, supplying essential medical oxygen cylinder valves. Based in Kolkata, India, the company has seen unprecedented demand for medical oxygen cylinder valves, which currently account for nearly 50% of its total output.
“We expect this trend to continue for some time,” Rohit Behani, Partner and CEO of Tekno Valves, told gasworld. “Medical oxygen cylinder valves are essential components in the supply chain required to provide medical oxygen in cylinders to Covid-19 patients in hospitals and quarantine wards.”
“We responded to the crisis by maintaining continuity in supplies to cylinder manufacturers and gas companies. We received tremendous support from the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturer’s Association (AIIGMA), Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) who ensured that gas companies and equipment manufacturers involved in supply of medical oxygen were supported.”
After seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown on 24th March, which limited the movement of its entire 1.3 billion population. Within a few days of the lockdown being announced, Tekno Valves received permission to manufacture medical oxygen valves and other essential commodities with limited resources, ensuring health and safety of its employees. The Government of India’s Directorate General of Health Services granted permission for manufacturers of industrial oxygen and associated equipment to manufacture and sell for medical use in a bid to ensure availability and supply across the country.
“As much as would like to believe otherwise, we were not expecting the Covid-19 pandemic to cripple normal life in such a short space of time,” Behani said. “The situation leading up to the lockdown was uncharted territory, unprecedented and unforeseen. There was a lot of uncertainty when the lockdown was initially announced, and the lockdown was further extended over two months.”
Despite cases continuing to soar, India eased its lockdown at the beginning of June, reopening places of worship, restaurants and shopping malls, in a bid to rescue its economy. At the time of writing, India has the world’s fourth biggest outbreak of Covid-19 reporting more than 605,000 cases and 17,800 deaths.
“Post lockdown, we are now starting to see demand reviving in traditional sectors like industrial gases, firefighting, specialty gases and automotive application,” Behani said. “Demand continues to be robust for products required for water purification, lifesaving equipment and pharmaceutical industry too. We hope to scale back to our normal capacity as the Government of India has announced phased plans of unlocking the economy.”
