The Hindu Business Line : Rieter AG keen to set up facility for ring spinning machinery

Talking to newspersons at the sidelines of the German textile machinery symposium under way here, the Rieter official, however, pleaded ignorance on future plans of Rieter AG with regard to its move to set up its own production facility in India, including the location of the project, saying that only the company's Swiss headquarters would be in a position to comment on this.

Rieter's plans to get into ring spinning machinery production in the country has stirred lot of interest in the textile engineering industry in view of the objections from its joint venture partner and ring spinning machinery manufacturer Lakshmi MachineWorks.

Press Note 1: LMW has been objecting to Rieter's proposal citing Press Note 1, which restricts foreign companies with more than 3 per cent equity in an Indian from setting up another unit in the same line of business activity via the automatic route. Rieter holds 13 per cent equity in LMW.

As for the sale of Rieter's machinery in India, Mr Buchler, without disclosing the numbers or the volume, said the Indian market for Rieter machinery had been showing good growth in the last two years. The sale this year has been 100 per cent more than the previous year.

"The demand for textile machinery in India is being fuelled by the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) . But I think the momentum of investment in capital goods by the textile industry will continue even after the expiry of the TUFS expected by 2007," said Mr Buchler. This is because the Indian textile enterprises have become forward looking in terms of enhancing the quality manufacture and seizing new business opportunities.

As for the competition from the Chinese textile machinery manufacturers who have moved aggressively to market their spinning machines in the country of late, Mr Buchler held the view that the customers who had bought the Swiss machines are not likely to shift to Chinese machinery.

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