The National Textile Corporation (NTC) is set to enter textiles processing business.
Disclosing this to Business Line here today, Mr K. Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman, NTC, said the project was coming up at Hasan, SEZ (Special Economic Zone), where the corporation has acquired 40 acres of land. “This would be a green-field project with 40000 spindles, and weaving capacity of 48 (shuttle-less) looms. We are in the process of setting up the processing plant, with capacity to produce 40,000 metres of cloth a day.”
The corporation is in now trying to identify best machinery suppliers and is looking at either a German or Italian supplier of machines.
Project outlay
The project outlay has been estimated at Rs 250 crore.
Elaborating his plans for NTC, he said, “This appears to be the most opportune time to diversify and expand operations. We have enough money to take care of our expansion as also diversification plans. At the moment we are not looking to sell our land holdings (land bank), but will consider based on the requirement,” he added
The corporation has made a beginning by venturing into the technical textiles space by initiating a geo textiles project in Rajasthan on an estimated outlay of Rs 250 crore, and a medical textiles project in Tamil Nadu on an outlay of Rs 60 crore.
He said the NTC Board recently resolved to moot cluster-approach projects by developing the land bank (NTC lands) in Kanpur where the holding was around 135 acres at Vidharba, and in about 25 acres in Coimbatore. “Each cluster would have around 10 technical textile projects. The modality of partnership with the Corporation is yet to be worked out. The proposal awaits Government nod,” he said.
On performance, he said the corporation's exports stood at Rs 6 crore last year. “We are targeting at Rs 25 crore this year and the current year's exports will include bedsheets as well.”
Profits
“During 2010-11, our profits touched Rs 1,500 crore, but this was mainly on account of sale of lands. Our sales from operations was around Rs 670 crore. During the current fiscal, we are hoping to achieve operational profit, but the climate is not good now,” he added.