Who says the market is sluggish or that erratic cotton policies are hampering the textile industry, when Apparel Online talked to various companies whether in the Southern part of India or Western region, most of them declared that they are growing steadily and are also looking at both organic and inorganic growth. The idea is to either add capacities or to diversify into newer product categories. Taking cue from the bigger players, a lot of smaller companies are entering into the technical textiles segment, which is fast emerging as a growth driver for the industry, as they see a huge scope in this segment, especially meditech.
The India textile industry is mainly concentrated in three core areas – The Coimbatore belt in Tamil Nadu, the Mumbai and surrounding areas in Maharashtra and in Gujarat. Talking to various players from these major centres, it is clear that there is no particular cluster which is looking at expansion; it is more based on individual company’s strategies and visions. In the Coimbatore region, three companies – Precot Meridian, Aarthi Textiles and Sabari Textiles – are going for huge investments for expanding capacities and also to foray into newer product categories.
Aarthi Textiles which has a spinning unit with 25,000 spindles as of now is planning to almost double its existing capacities by taking over a spinning unit which is new, but is running into losses. Says Harish Kumar, the young Managing Director of the company, “This spinning unit has been declared sick but has a very state-of-the-art set-up; we intend to run it more efficiently as we have the experience and know-how.” Aarthi Textiles is planning to produce core yarn with cotton sheet and polypropylene in core, which will enable sweat absorption and evaporation almost simultaneously. “The high performance yarns we intend producing will lead our weaving set-up and cater to technical textile market which is a fast segment,” shares Harish.
Similarly, Precot Meridian Ltd., with a turnover of Rs. 600 crore/annum is also getting into technical textiles. The company is coming up with a new unit in Hassan to produce non woven fabrics for medical applications. Ashok Kulkarni, CEO of the company was tight lipped about the new project but said that the new project which is already under implementation would be commissioned in a year’s time. Established in 1962 by V.N. Ramachandran and N. Damotharan, technocrats in the field of textile technology, Precot Meridian, formerly known as Precot Mills, produces combed and compact yarns along with yarn dyed shirting fabrics. The company also produces polyester sewing threads, both two ply and three ply yarns that range from Ne 20 to Ne 60. In spinning the current capacity of the company is 66,154 spindles, Precot Meridian is also into garment manufacturing.
Sabari Textiles, producers of poly/cotton blended yarns, is now looking at producing value-added yarns such as fancy and slub yarns. With an existing spindles capacity of 22,500, the company presently is not looking at increasing this capacity but going up the value chain by manufacturing value-added yarns. “Our yarns are basically consumed by fabric producers in Mumbai and Ichalkaranji and now that we are getting augmented demand for such yarns from our existing clients so we thought of getting into value rather than increasing capacities,” informs Sivakumar, CEO, Sabari Textiles.
Parvati Fabrics Ltd., based out of Surat is another company which is looking at expanding its technical textile business which it forayed into about 1½ years back. While talking about his technical textiles business, Vikash Pacheriwal, Managing Director of the company says, “Presently, we are producing 10 tonnes/day of non woven fabrics and now we are looking at doubling our capacity; by 2013 we shall be producing 20 tonnes/day. Our non woven fabric is being used for medical and packaging applications. We are also working on a new product with Hydrofilic treatment. This product is very good for baby diapers as it has excellent absorbency properties.” Established in 1984, Parvati Fabrics basically started as a saree and ladies wear manufacturing company catering to both the Indian and overseas markets.
Maharaja Shree Umaid Mills Ltd. (MSUM), an LN Bangur Group Enterprise, based in Pali, Rajasthan, which started as a spinning mill (presently the company has 1,10,000 spindles) and eventually ventured into fabric manufacturing, is now going for expansion in its fabric manufacturing capacities. Sharing the details of the expansion plans, Govind Sharda, Executive Director of the company says, “We are adding 96 air-jet looms and also increasing our processing capacity. Presently we have 494 shuttle looms.” The company is producing shirting and bottom wear fabrics; 90 per cent is cotton and 10 per cent is in PC. With a total investment of approximately over Rs. 100 crore, MSUM is looking at completing its construction and installation work of the unit by September and the plant would be commissioned by October this year. “In the competitive globalized business environment, the outlook towards business plans is to move up in the value chain organically and through acquisitions with a conservative financial approach,” adds Govind.
In the denim segment many companies are on an expansion mode; while Sangam (India) Limited, Bhilwara has recently increased its production capacity in denim fabric to 40 million metres/annum. “As we have launched our own denim brand aarp’s we felt the need of increasing our denim fabric capacity,” says S.N. Modani, Managing Director of the company. In the meanwhile, LNJ Denim is almost doubling its capacity by the end of 2013. “We are presently manufacturing 18 million metres per annum and with expansion, we will be producing 30 million metres/annum,” informs Y.C. Gupta, CEO, LNJ Denim.
Many of the bigger mills, for whom adding capacity is an ongoing process, are also looking at expansion. Mumbai based Siyaram’s, a leading producer of blended fabrics, plans to invest Rs. 160 crore in FY12-13 to enhance its fabrics and garments manufacturing capacity. The expansion work will start by August-September this year. Ludhiana based SEL Manufacturing Co. Ltd. too is on an expansion mode. In spinning the company is going for massive expansion in its Bhopal unit. Presently the company has close to 1,50,000 spindles and by the end of May 2012 it would be 5.5 to 6 lakh spindles. Spinning is growing almost 3 times. The company is also increasing its terry towel production capacity by adding over 100 looms. Before the close of next year, the company will have about 325 looms taking production capacity to around 100 tonnes per day from the existing 45 tonnes/day capacity. The company is also putting 1,98,000 spindles to produce denim yarn and weave denim fabric and subsequently produce denim bottoms.
