Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate
-
New Projects Grasim plans Rs 100-cr expansion for Bhiwani plant — To enter blended cotton market Our Bureau
Kolkata , Aug. 23 THE textile division of the Rs 4,000-crore Grasim Industries Ltd, the flagship company of the Rs 27,000-crore Aditya Birla group, has charted out a Rs 100-crore expansion-cum-modernisation programme for its Bhiwani plant. The division, which is predominantly a producer of polyester-viscose fabrics, has decided to enter the polyester-blended cotton fabric market in a big way, said Mr R.K. Chaudhury, Vice-President (Sales), of Grasim Industries. He was in the city for the launch of a new range of fabric under the Soffeel brand name. The product, he said, consists of lighter to medium weight fabrics in finer counts in different blends of polyester, viscose and modal. Talking about the expansion-cum-modernisation programme, he said, Grasim Industries is expanding the weaving capacity at its Bhiwani plant to 10 lakh metres a month from the existing level of seven lakh metres a month. The plant's fabric processing capacity is 15 lakh metres a month. Currently, the company is outsourcing the rest of its fabric requirements. The capacity expansion programme will start from next month. "We are also improving our processing section. We are putting up new machinery. The total cost of the whole project is Rs 100 crore and it would be invested over the next two years," Mr Chaudhury said. Meanwhile, Grasim has decided to enter the blended cotton market. Currently, there are about 15 significant brands in this sector, of which Arvind is the market leader. According to Mr Chaudhury, trials are already on at the Bhiwani plant for the blending of cotton with polyester. The company is also contemplating outsourcing the fabric. The brand name of the polyester-blended cotton has not been identified by Grasim. "From January onwards, we will start this activity in a full-fledged manner and the product is likely to be ready by May next year," he said. Mr Chaudhury, however, ruled out any possibility of his division entering either the readymade garment or the home furnishings market. Instead, he said that Madura Garments, another Aditya Birla Group company, is doing extremely well in that sector. During 2004-05, the textile division of Grasim Industries clocked a total turnover of Rs 250 crore. In the current financial year, Mr Chaudhury said, the target has been fixed at Rs 300 crore.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|