A.T.E. Enterprises has elevated Abhijit Kulkarni to Director, widening a remit that previously covered operational delivery across the Textile Engineering Group, TeraSpin and HMX.

The move shifts Kulkarni from unit-level execution to group-wide strategy, sustainability and leadership development at an Indian textile engineering business tracing its origins to 1939.

What does the role change?

As President of the Textile Engineering Group since 2021, Kulkarni ran day-to-day performance. The Director mandate adds long-horizon planning. He identifies three pillars:

• Long-term strategic direction
• Sustainability across customer operations
• Organisational readiness via succession, talent and competency building

"It is important to steer the direction in which the A.T.E. Group will go, beyond meeting our operational parameters of growth, profitability and sustainability," Kulkarni told The Textile Magazine in an exclusive interview.

What does A.T.E. actually supply?

A.T.E. positions itself as a solutions partner and technology channel rather than a mill operator. The portfolio reaches the factory floor end of the textile supply chain through four in-house units and a bench of international principals:

• TeraSpin – precision spinning components
• AxisValence – industrial static-control technologies
• A.T.E. HUBER Envirotech – wastewater treatment, recycling and sludge management
• HMX – energy-efficient cooling

Together, the units address the inputs mills now weigh most heavily when planning capex: energy cost, water use, effluent compliance and labour productivity.

Why India, why now?

Kulkarni's promotion lands against a sectoral backdrop A.T.E. has served for more than eight decades. India's textile and apparel sector directly employs more than 45 million workers, while the country's share of global textile and apparel trade sits at roughly 4% – the headroom he and his principals are positioning to capture.

Man-made fibres, technical textiles and performance materials are opening adjacent demand in defence, healthcare, automotive, infrastructure, railways and construction, lifting Indian manufacturers further up the value chain. Inside the plant, automation, digitalisation and AI are reshaping productivity, quality consistency and labour deployment.

Sustainability, in Kulkarni's framing, has shifted from differentiator to operating requirement. "'Partnering People & the Planet' is not just a statement; it is the way we work," he said, with the in-house portfolio tied directly to customer targets on energy efficiency and wastewater.

What shapes his approach?

Before A.T.E., Kulkarni spent 24 years at SKF, holding manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, sales and business leadership roles across general engineering, defence, energy and textiles. That range, he argues, taught him to read industry five years out and the shopfloor the same morning.

"You can have a huge organisation, processes and structures, but if they are not helping customer-centricity, they have no value at the end of the day," Kulkarni said.

The internal translation: leadership development, succession planning and the empowerment of regional teams to decide closer to customers.

What does the board say?

Anuj Bhagwati, Head – A.T.E. Group, welcomed Kulkarni onto the board of the parent company. "My fellow directors and I are delighted to welcome Abhijit to the board of our company. He has demonstrated many excellent characteristics – drive, passion, leadership, organisation, empathy, and a learning mindset," Bhagwati said.

What is the sourcing implication?

Brands sourcing from Indian mills should expect continued A.T.E. co-investment in productivity, energy and wastewater upgrades alongside international principal offerings. For mills auditing buyer social and environmental codes, the alignment of HUBER Envirotech's treatment and recycling lines with tightening buyer expectations on water and sludge removes a layer of capital risk from compliance planning.

Kulkarni's own five-year benchmark – whether A.T.E. emerges stronger, more capable and better prepared for a different industrial future – is now the test that will shape the technology stack a buyer's Indian supply chain can access.