With industry-friendly Government sitting in the centre and voicing the ‘Make in India’ slogan, along with announcement of a new textile policy with an ambitious target of achieving 20 per cent share of the global textile trade and helping the domestic industry attain a size of US $ 650 billion by 2024-25 by focusing on investments, skill development and labour law reforms, players in the textile industry are more positive than they have been for years. The industry is expected to attract investment of about US $ 120 billion by 2024-25 and create about 35 million additional jobs in the process. Exports are also expected to rise from the current US $ 39 billion to US $ 300 billion during this period. With the textile industry growth, the textile machinery industry size is also expected to double to US $ 7,167.8 million (Rs. 45,000 crore) in the next seven years from the present US $ 3,504.3 million (Rs. 22,000 crore) on the back of new projects and emphasis on setting up textile parks.
The new policy blueprint, aptly termed as the ‘Vision, Strategy and Action Plan’ for the textiles and apparel industry, lays thrust upon diversification of exports through new products and markets along with increasing value addition and promoting innovation and R&D activities.
In 2013, India emerged as the second largest textile exporter and all the major textile players in the country are now gearing up to grab the opportunities which the Government has initiated by widening their production base extensively. Companies like Trident, Welspun, Chiripal Group, RSWM, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills, Arvind, Raymond, and Mafatlal are going for major investments and expansion programmes, some of which have been completed, while some are in progress and many lined-up for the future.
Spinning the biggest area of concentration…
Over the last few years, spinning has been a major trust area for textile mills and majority of the companies are expanding their value-added yarn capacities. Bhilwara-based RSWM has invested Rs. 1,187 crore (US $ 189.52 million) in capacity creation and modernization of its plants. The company commissioned its modern SJ-11 unit housing 51,840 units (15 per cent of its total spinning capacity), which went fully operational during 2013-14. RSWM is further investing Rs. 184 crore (US $ 29.37 million) in expanding its mélange yarn capacity to enhance value-addition offerings. An investment of Rs. 75 crore (US $ 11.97 million) has also been planned for a green fibre facility, which will replace about 25 per cent of its polyester fibre being procured, thereby reducing its costs.
Welspun India plans to invest Rs. 2,500 crore (US $ 399.17 million) to expand manufacturing capacities over the next 12 months. As per the Chairman of the Group, B K Goenka, they are in the process of setting up the country’s largest spinning facility at Anjar with an investment of around Rs. 800 crore (US $ 127.73 million). The new facility will be instrumental in doubling Welspun’s spinning capacity to over 3,00,000 spindles, thereby fulfilling nearly 70 per cent of the fine and super fine yarn requirements of the company.
Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills is adding 26,000 spindles by setting up a spinning unit near Nagpur. With this new unit, it will add to its already installed capacity of 61,008 spindles. The estimated investment on this unit is around Rs. 131 crore (US $ 20.91 million) and it would be commissioned in October 2015. The spinning unit will manufacture value-added and fancy yarns such as ring, lycra, slub and compact. It produces 40 million metres of denim fabric per annum and has a capacity to manufacture 4,000 garments per day. “We have a network of associates for the US market and we have opened a market consultancy for Europe,” shares Paritosh Agarwal, Managing Director, Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills. The company is partnering with Aditya Birla Nuvo, Landmark Group and others for sustainable business. The target set is to reach a turnover of Rs. 1,000 crore (US $ 159.66 million) in three years.
Kalol-based Sintex Industries is setting up a spinning unit with 3,00,000 spindles at a cost of Rs. 1,800 crore (US $ 287.40 million). This capacity will be increased to one million spindles with a total capex of over Rs. 5,000 crore (US $ 798.33 million) in coming 5 years. “This plant would start its commercial production by 2015-16,” informs Rahul Patel, Managing Director, Sintex Industries. The company recently launched high-value fabrics for the metros and Tier-I cities through its retail distribution chain. Products introduced include 2-ply Ghiza mixing, linen and lycra (more in bottoms) in the same year. Sintex entered into collaboration with Ricardo Rami Studio, in Milan, facilitating creation of a design collection and marketing the same to global fashion labels which, in turn, would strengthen the company’s global presence in the coming years.
A leading producer of spun-dyed yarns in India, Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. (STIL) started commercial production of its expansion project of 31,104 spindles to manufacture value-added cotton mélange and cotton-blended dyed yarn from the end of 2014. The company’s total yarn spinning capacity stands at 2,92,840 spindles, of which 96,720 spindles are utilized to make cotton mélange and cotton-blended dyed yarn. The rest of the spindles are utilized for producing synthetic dyed yarns. The company is also investing to upgrade its machineries and increasing the production of value-added yarns. With nearly 69% of its spindles are just decade old; the company has invested Rs. 830 crore (US $ 132.52 million) in state-of-the-art technology across 10 years.
Expansions in home segment…
With recent expansion in its terry towel weaving, taking its capacity to 688 looms, Trident Ltd. has become the largest manufacturer of terry towels in the global market. The company has also laid the foundation for the second phase of its composite textile project comprising two spinning units and a bed linen unit. This project will have 500 looms capable of producing 3.6 million metres of bed linen per month and 1.85 lakh yarn spindles. “The bed linen and spinning units are expected to be operational by September 2015 and will contribute nearly Rs. 1,200 crore (US $ 191.60 million) to the company’s annual revenue,” informs Abhishek Gupta, Managing Director, Trident Ltd.
In its existing yarn manufacturing facilities at Sanghera in Punjab and Budhni in Madhya Pradesh, Trident has a total of 3,66,000 lakh spindles and 3,584 rotors. The newly-commissioned plant at Budhni would further add 1,920 rotors to its existing capacity with an additional investment of Rs. 60 crore (US $ 9.58 million). Trident also commissioned an open-end yarn spinning expansion project in July 2014, with a capacity of nearly 10,000 TPA of cotton open-end yarn for meeting the yarn requirement of its terry towel unit in Budhni. The company will make a total investment of Rs. 2,400 crore (US $ 383.20 million) for its composite textile project.
In the meanwhile, Welspun India is also looking at investing into modernization and expansion of its towel manufacturing capacity at Vapi plant. Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. (STIL) has also recently announced its plan to expand its Damanganga Home Textiles unit situated in Daheli in Gujarat with an investment of Rs. 88.50 crore (US $ 14.13 million) in FY 2015-16. With the expansion, the capacity would enhance by 9.6 million metres from 2.5 million metres/annum. The company’s decision to expand its operations in the home textile division will guarantee further strengthening of its vertical operations from yarns to home textiles.
Denim manufacturers increasing capacity…
In 2014, Mafatlal Industries Ltd. announced its plan to invest Rs. 200 crore (US $ 31.93 million) in its Nadiad and Navsari units over the next three years. It is known that the company has already invested Rs. 100 crore (US $ 15.96 million) in modernization of these two plants in Gujarat. The flagship of the diversified Arvind Mafatlal Group increased its denim production capacity from 20 million metres to 25 million metres. “We plan to further raise our denim capacities to 30 million metres by 2015 at the Navsari unit,” avers Rajiv Dayal, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer. Over the period of time, the company has completely modernized its processing facilities that include the latest CBR and mercerizing machines. A new capex is underway to increase its annual capacity from the existing 24 million metres to 40 million metres from its two units.
Ahmedabad-based Chiripal Group, signed a MoU with the Gujarat Government at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 in Gandhinagar, committing investments to the tune of Rs. 3,640 crore (US $ 581.19 million) over the next two years. The Group’s company Nandam Denim will invest Rs. 612 crore (US $ 97.71 million) in its Textile Park in Bidaj. The Group will be investing around Rs. 1,306 crore (US $ 208.52 million) to expand its spinning and weaving capacities. “We aim to build Nandan Denim into an organization capable of competing with the world’s best – in terms of product, people, process and technology. We set high standards for ourselves and for the operations and decided that profitability and growth must result from efficient exploration of challenging opportunities,” says Deepak Chiripal, CEO, Nandan Denim Ltd. – Chiripal Group.
Expansions along the supply chain…
In 2013-14, Vardhman Textiles had invested Rs. 809 crore (US $ 129.17 million) in yarn and fabric capacity expansion and modernization. In the financial year, the company added 1,20,864 spindles thus increasing its total spindlage capacity to 9,33,331. Vijay Puniyani, Sr. Vice President (Marketing), Vardhman Textiles Ltd. shares, “Over the last 3-4 years, we have repositioned our business model, especially for the domestic market, shifting our production capacities from fundamental yarns to value-added yarns. Today our sales of value-added yarns accounts for close to 50% of total sales, while earlier it was ranging between 25-30%. To meet this demand, we have increased production of mélange from 18-20 tonnes a day, two years ago to 30 tonnes a day, converting our capacities from fundamental yarns to the value-added yarns gradually. The export segment is however more volume-based, so it is basically greige yarns.”
Vardhman further added 230 looms, taking the cumulative count to 1,320 looms. The company is also planning to set up two weaving units in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh at an investment of Rs. 560 crore (US $ 89.41 million). The two subsidiaries of Vardhman Textiles, Auro Textiles and Mahavir Spinning Mills are also planning to invest Rs. 22,858 lakh (US $ 2.28 billion) and Rs. 33,028 lakh (US $ 3.30 billion) respectively for expansion and the projects would be commissioned by the end of 2016.
In order to expand its capacity and widen its capabilities, RSWM is also investing Rs. 40 crore (US $ 6.38 million) in 50 looms to increase fabric production from 9 lakh metres per month to 16 lakh metres per month, making it possible to enter the 100 per cent cotton and polyester-cotton fabric ranges, starting from 2014-15.
The Chiripal Group besides strengthening its core denim capacities is also expanding its polypropylene (PP) capacity and is coming up with polyester chips manufacturing, packaging film coating and converting and manufacturing of BOPET unit at a cost of Rs. 1,172 crore (US $ 187.13 million). The Group is also planning to set up a knitting plant along with terry towel production undertaken at an investment of around Rs. 400 crore (US $ 63.76 million) at Dholi village in Dholkataluka of Ahmedabad. A spinning park known as Dholi Integrated Spinning Park Ltd. at Dholi has been planned at an investment of Rs. 150 crore (US $ 23.95 million), which will house 11 spinning units and five weaving plants.
