The Hindu Business Line : Textile cos escape major damage

Most of the large textile players have moved their operations to other areas over the past few years to achieve operational efficiencies, with the result that only Bombay Dyeing, Century Textiles and Raymond are some of the companies that still have units in or around Mumbai and in Maharashtra.

Most of these companies are also insured against full damage.

However, the company chief, Mr Nusli Wadia, speaking at Bombay Dyeing's AGM, said stocks stored at its Kurla (Mumbai) and Bhiwandi godowns had suffered damage, but the company was fully insured.

He added that since the Patalganga polyester staple fibre unit was situated on a high terrain, it had not been affected by floods.

However, power supply had been affected and it would take 7-10 days for work to resume.

However, he could not arrive at the quantum of losses that the company had incurred due to the deluge of the past few days.

Century Textiles & Industries' Century Rayon unit (rayon, tyre cord and chemical plants), which produces viscose filament yarn, high tenacity viscose tyre yarn, caustic soda and various other chemicals, located at Shahad near Kalyan in Thane district, had to close all the manufacturing operations from July 27 due to water flooding the factory premises.

The management said it was working towards resuming all operations, which could take a week. It estimated loss of production for 7-10 days

According to an analyst, the bigger companies were unlikely to have suffered major losses as they have proper storage facilities and godowns.

He said most of the large players would have insured their business. Most of them did not store very large stocks, but would feel the pinch with the man-days lost.

According to Mr Premal Udani, President, Clothing Manufacturers' Association of India (CMAI), there was not too much damage suffered by textile units.

However, chawls that housed labourers were inundated and there could be some disruption in operations due to lost man-days. Small units and subcontractors could be the most affected.

He added that operations would be back to normal by Monday for most companies.

The CMAI's annual Garment Fair has also been postponed to mid-August due to the extensive damage caused by the downpour to the NSE grounds in Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb. The fair is expected to attract 250 manufacturers and 15,000 dealers this year.

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