₹450-crore textile mall coming up in Erode

An integrated textile mall is coming up at the powerloom hub of Erode at an investment of about ₹450 crore.

While the Centre has pitched in with a grant of about ₹40 crore, the rest is borne by the promoters and other stakeholders from textile industry, with the state offering partial stamp duty relief for the project land.

Explaining the features of the Erode ‘Texvalley’ project, C Devarajan, Vice-Chairman and P Raajashekar, Managing Director, respectively of Erode Textile Mall Ltd that is executing the project, said that after the announcement of a ‘Comprehensive Powerloom Cluster Development Scheme’ in the 2008-09 Budget, the Ministry of Textiles appointed a Cluster Management and Technical Agency for studying the support needed for the Erode powerloom cluster.

The study revealed that to improve the marketing of the powerloom products produced within a radius of 70 km from Erode, a textile market complex at Erode was a imperative. A special purpose vehicle named ‘Erode Textile Mall Ltd’ was formed and the Ministry cleared the proposal in 2009.

Devarajan and Raajashekar said the city’s wholesale daily textile market accounted for an annual business volume of about ₹4,000 crore and the weekly textile shandy generated about ₹200 crore. The Erode powerloom industry was known for its grey cloth (unbleached and un-dyed), yarn dyed fabrics for export garments, towels, lungies and dhotis, sarees and ladies dress materials, bed linen/home furnishings/made-ups etc.

Devarajan said the project, coming up on18 acres close to Coimbatore-Salem National Highway, would have a built-up area of 16 lakh sq.ft and have three major components. While the main mart would have space for 1,650 showrooms to display the textile products from the Erode belt, there would be a separate weekly market complex to accommodate 4,000 tiny and small textile producers-cum-traders to sell directly their wares. This would be open for one or two days every week. There will also be an international convention centre for conducting exhibitions. Raajashekar said the estimated cost of the project, when completed, would be ₹450 crore. While the Central Government’s grant for the project was ₹40.05 crore, the share of the promoters and other stakeholders from the textile trade will be ₹300 crore. Two banks have offered loan assistance – IOB with ₹60 crore and Bank of India with ₹50 crore. The Tamil Nadu Government has provided 50 per cent exemption from stamp duty in registering the project land (nearly ₹28 lakh in stamp duty value).

There will be transport facility from the mall to important centres in Erode and its neighbourhood. Integrated warehouse and logistics service providers and banking facility with ATMs would also be available. Devarajan said that the promoters have also planned to extend support to the traders to promote their products by conducting roadshows across the country.

Raajashekar said the daily market was expected to generate business of more than ₹6,000 crore per year from the third year of commercial operation. The weekly market is likely to generate business in excess of ₹1,000 crore per year from the second year.

The weekly market now provides a window to small and medium manufacturers to directly market their products and Texvalley would serve the interests of both categories.

According to P Periaswamy, Chairman of Erode Textile Mall, the weekly market complex is slated to open in June this year and the daily market complex in September. The international convention centre will be opened in January next year. About the impact of the project on the existing textile business at Erode, they said at present in the weekly market nearly 4000 traders conducted business on Mondays and Tuesdays. Of them, 3,600 have expressed willingness to shift to Texvalley and around 3,000 traders have paid the advance for their shops. .

COMMENT NOW