Thaindian News

By P.S. Anantharaman
Ahmedabad, May 14 (IANS) Two major textile projects envisaging an investment of more than Rs.10.5 billion ($250 million) are coming up at Jhagadia in central Gujarat, which is emerging as a new industrial hub. The two projects will put Jhagadia in Bharuch district, about 220 km from here, in the league of Ahmedabad and Surat - the state’s major textile hubs. While Ahmedabad is a hub for cotton textiles including denim, Surat is an acknowledged centre for manmade textiles.

According to official sources here, S. Kumar Nationwide Limited (SKNL) is investing Rs.4.6 billion to set up a unit to manufacture high-value cotton shirting fabrics and home textiles. The unit is expected to manufacture 12.5 million metres a day of cotton fabrics in a range of poplin varieties and 28 million metres of home textiles.

A team of consultants from Europe and India is providing technical consultancy and will have the most modern machinery. The project is scheduled to commence operations by June.

SKNL is one of India’s leading textile and apparel companies. It claims to be the only textile major in the country that operates in all product categories - fabrics, apparel, and home textiles; all fibre categories - natural, man-made, and blended; and caters to all socio-economic segments of the Indian market, manufacturing over 200,000 metres a day.

The other project is by Century Textiles and Industries of the Birla group. It is setting up a new textile mill at a cost of Rs.6 billion in Jhagadia.

The sources said the plant will have a manufacturing capacity of 30 million metres of fabric annually. The project includes a 30-MW captive power plant.

Industry experts here say that Gujarat, the largest cotton producer, is witnessing a resurgence of interest among textile players because of easy access to raw material at reduced freight. The other major factor is the plentiful supply of skilled labour.

The Dahej port in south Gujarat, not far from Jhagadia, adds a new dimension. It has been developed as a chemical port but sources said it could also ultimately handle export of other commodities.

Leading companies like Gujarat Guardian, Hoechst, Rallis, Sandoz, DCM, Modipon, PepsiCo, Huber and Vardhaman Group, have manufacturing facilities at Jhagadia.

Lanxess , the German specialty chemicals group, is relocating its rubber chemicals facility from Thane in Maharashtra to Jhagadia. This will be its second production site in India after Madurai in Tamil Nadu and will be the bigger of the two and will start commercial production in 2010.

The state-run Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) is also developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Jhagadia, dedicated to ceramic and glass.