The Hindu Business Line : NTC may instal imported spinning machinery by Dec

National Textile Corporation (NTC) may start installing the first batch of ring spinning machinery it has imported from China by next month or January.

Themachinery will be commissioned for production by March as targeted, according to Mr Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director of NTC.

The public sector textile monolith has imported about one-lakh spindles from China's state-owned textile machinery conglomerate CTMTC, costing Rs 80 crore, and has received a part of this order.

The first load of 840 spinning frames (about 16,000 spindles) meant to be erected in Murugam Mills, one of NTC's textile mills in Coimbatore, and another 440 frames consisting of about 5,000 spindles (meant for Alagappa textile mill in Kerala) have been dispatched. "We expect the technicians from the Chinese company to begin erecting the spinning machines by next month or January and hopefully, the trials would start by February,'' Mr Pillai who is here on an official visit to NTC's regional headquarters told Business Line.

The corporation has taken up modernisation of 22 mills located largely in southern/western parts of the country at a cost of Rs 530 crore involving 7-lakh spindle capacity.

Of this, the Rs 80-crore Chinese order is to modernise spinning line in five units (one in Tamil Nadu, two each in Kerala and Maharashtra).

The remaining Rs 450 crore would be spent on spinning preparatory, weaving machines/equipment for post spinning and value-addition etc., for which NTC has tied up with several domestic machinery manufacturers such as Lakshmi Machinery Works, Trumac Engineering and Veejay Lakshmi Engineering.

The modernisation process will also help the mills in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in scaling up their existing spindle capacity from 2.5 lakh spindles each to three lakh each.

NTC is also considering, as part of modernisation scheme, proposals to expand the production capacity in some of the textile mills by using their existing building infrastructure. In this regard, it has identified two of its mills in Tamil Nadu — Kaleeswara B and Pioneer Mills — where the corporation could add an additional 18,000 spindles. The idea is to enhance the yield and margin using the facilities available at these plants.

For this purpose, the corporation is considering whether it has to opt once again for importing more spinning frames from China, beyond the present one-lakh spindles contracted or to buy indigenous spinning machines from Indian manufacturers like Lakshmi Machine Works. "We'll be taking a decision soon in this regard,'' added Mr Pillai.

The broad contours of the modernisation plan is currently restricted to 22 of the 40 viable units taken up for revival. The revamp of the rest is still hanging in balance as the Government is yet to decide whether it would be directly undertaken by NTC or through the joint venture route. A decision is expected shortly.

"The modernisation project for the 22 textile units now underway is on schedule and we'll be completing the project by December 2007,'' said Mr Pillai.

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