Silver Spark Apparel Ethiopia PLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond, has started first phase of production at its greenfield garment facility in Ethiopia.

Set up at Hawassa Industrial Park with an investment of over ₹140 crore, the company can produce 600 suits per day for different brands and will employ 2,500 people.

The production will go up to 4,000 suits per day, when the entire 18 production lines is commissioned in 18 months.

The modern facility, which will primarily cater to United States and European markets, was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn along with Gautam Hari Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond.

The company, which will import fabrics from India, can tap the developed markets duty-free by exporting from the special Ethiopian export zone. It has set up special training centre at the unit to skill local people.

The fresh capacity addition will make Raymond’s the top five suit manufacturers in the world. It has three units in Bengaluru with capacity of 7,000 suits per day.

Gautam Singhania said the company is committed to Make in India and the decision to set up a garmenting unit in Ethiopia is to mitigate risk as far as exports are concerned.

To ensure price competitiveness, Ethiopia makes a compelling business case and helps serve international customers better, he added.

Leveraging the skill-sets of garment manufacturing facilities on the domestic front, which were acquired over a period of time, the quantum leap into an international location for manufacturing has been triggered by both core competence and business considerations, he said.

Also, Ethiopia offers manpower at a competitive rate, subsidised power, readymade industrial sheds that considerably reduces capital expenditure along with duty benefits which would induce global buyers to source from Ethiopia, he added.

On the raging controversy over redevelopment of JK House post-rejection of the proposal by shareholders, Singhania said the Board will decide the next course of action as the company is a transparent listed entity.

(The writer is in Ethiopia at the invitation of Raymond)

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Published on June 20, 2017