The Hindu Business Line : Carrera to assemble Vinci looms from Coimbatore

India plans
Aims to outsource garment/fabric, hone-up operational & labour skills.
Consortium of 20 engg units identified for Coimbatore production plan.
Toying with the idea of increasing investments here.

G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore, Dec. 12 The Italian fashion brand Carrera Holdings is planning to assemble low cost shuttle-less weaving machines (rapier looms) from Coimbatore using its in-house Vinci technology, according to Mr Vivek Jacob, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Carrera Holdings.

The estimated investment to go into the loom manufacture to be made under its investment arm Banyan Tree Holdings is around $4 million and the first prototype of the Vinci technology looms out of the proposed Coimbatore project is likely by December 2008.

Carrera has already identified a consortium of 20 engineering units in Coimbatore which could be roped into the manufacture of Vinci looms.

Carrera was originally toying with the idea of producing Vinci looms from its Kolhapur project in Maharashtra and it has now proposed to relocate its loom business from Kolhapur to Coimbatore.

“We are also proposing to have nearly 80 per cent of our textile engineering activity centered around Coimbatore, considering the availability of engineering skills in the region,” Mr Jacob told press persons here on Wednesday.

The Carrera group will make use of its textile engineering technology company Vinci’s know-how for assembling the looms that would suit the Indian working condition. The price tag of these shuttle-less loom brands would be kept at Rs 1.5-2 lakh per unit.

Outsourcing plans

The Banyan Tree Holdings’ India business plan comprises garment/fabric outsourcing from the subcontinent. In addition to developing quality production/supply-chain bases with established textile centres across India, its investment plan includes honing up operational and labour skills in those centres through infusion of technology, besides bringing in its own investments for manufacture.

The Italian textile group is considering scaling up its product outsourcing (both knits and wovens) from South-based textile industry. The group, during the current season, has booked about one million pieces of knitwear for its global operation and this volume would be raised to three million pieces the next season, according to Mr Jacob.

Investment

Carrera is also toying with the idea of increasing its investments in India from the original $95 million to $120 million over the next three years or so. The incremental investments would be focussed towards Southern textile bases from where the international brand is seeking to increase its share in textile outsourcing.

With most of the European fashion textile brands loosing their sheen, Carrera is set to enlarge its India-based product sourcing in textiles.

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