The rising number of textile parks, both Government and privately owned, evokes a thought that is just a political one up to prepare vote banks for elections or is the textile industry as well as the Central and State Governments really serious about using the lean period to prepare for greater growth… In last two-three years, many privately owned parks have come up and many are now being inaugurated.
This year alone, the Government of India launched 21 new textile parks approved under Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP). Under this scheme, 61 parks have been sanctioned – 40 projects were started in the 11th Five-Year-Plan and the rest 21 projects sanctioned this year will be implemented in the 12th Five-Year-Plan. Out of the 40 parks sanctioned earlier, a total of 25 parks are already operational and the remaining parks are expected to be completed during this financial year. The SITP scheme has been instrumental in development of wide range of models for green field clusters from a 1000-acre FDI-driven integrated cluster, to a 100-acre powerloom cluster and a 20-acre handloom cluster.
Initiatives taken by State Governments this year – How many will materialize…
Both in the southern, western and northern region, the State Governments have shown immense interest in the textile industry and are leaving no stone unturned to woo investors in their states along with allotting land for textile parks. Very recently, Karnataka Government came up with a plan of a mega textile park at a cost of Rs. 1,000 crore in Gurmitkal in Yadgir district.
Similarly, the Government of Tamil Nadu would setup a textile park at Eraiyur village on the Tiruchi-Chennai national highway in Perambalur district. The setting up of textile park in Perambalur district was among the 343 measures announced by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in December, last year.
In the North, the Uttarakhand Government has proposed a 100-acre textile park as a public-private partnership in the Kumaon region. The Government will float a special-purpose vehicle and look for a private partner for the textile park. The Union Government had last year announced a series of sops at an estimated cost of Rs. 250 crore for Uttarakhand which included a textile park for which the centre has promised a grant of Rs. 100 crore.
Rather than setting up a textile park, Jharkhand Government has planned a specialized park for silk at a cost of Rs. 14 crore, with the Union and the State Governments sharing the cost in 80:20 ratio, which would include the entire value chain. Jharkhand is the largest producer of tussar silk in India, contributing about 65 per cent to the country’s overall produce.
Jharcraft, the nodal agency for developing the Ranchi silk park, has also put forward a proposal to setup three more silk parks – one each at Giridih, Jasidih and Kharsawan.
Textile giants investing in Textile Parks
The latest park which has come up is the Lotus Integrated Texpark by Abhishek Industries at the Trident Complex at Dhaula village in Barnala district of Punjab. The texpark will give a boost to the textile industry in the cotton belt of the Malwa region. The park, spread over 100-acre, currently has seven units, including four units for terry towel, bathrobe, fabric dyeing and cut, stitch and packing; and two other textile units for mélange yarn spinning and fibre dyeing. An amount of Rs. 600 crore has been invested on the seven units of the texpark. The total investment outlay on all 10 units of this park was fixed at Rs. 850 crore.
The land for the project had been acquired in the villages of Daula, Sangera and Fatehgarh Chana and both the textile parks are a 40:60 share joint venture between the Union Government and local industrialists, respectively.
SEL Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Ludhiana is another company which inaugurated its own Textile Park in 2010 at district Navuaan Shahar, Rahon Machiwara road, Punjab, under SITP scheme. “This park is a one-stop solution for garmenting as all garmenting-related supply chain would have their units in it; there are more than 15 units in the park which are already functional,” shares Neeraj Saluja, Managing Director of the company according to whom the park has housing facility to accommodate 50,000 people in the park.
No doubt, many corporate houses in India are taking keen interest in setting up their own textile parks. In Surat, Fairdeal Textile Park Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Luthra Dyeing & Printing owned by Girish Luthra came up with a textile park. According to Girish, they have chalked out plan for next 10 years in which they also plan to put up a weaving and embroidery park. The company is also looking at creating a small textile city which can either be in Gujarat or even in states like Tamil Nadu or Haryana depending on the availability of land and other procedural formalities pertaining to creating a textile city.
Surat, in Gujarat, is continuing to be in news for many reasons and one of them is Surat-based Nakoda Limited, which now has a Rs. 1700 crore expansion plan for its Surat yarn. Currently, the company turnover is around Rs. 2600 crore, which will cross the US $ 1 billion mark post-expansion, taking three years. Meanwhile, The Gujarat Eco Textile Park is a one-of-a-kind project initiated by Luthra Group and is another example of growing Surat where almost 33 companies have their units. Not to be left behind, two industry biggies – Arvind Ltd. and Welspun India, have already announced investment in SITP Parks in other parts of Gujarat.
Arvind Ltd., Ahmedabad and Welspun India, Mumbai are set to invest in integrated textile parks and manufacturing facilities. Arvind Ltd. is planning to be investing around Rs. 2,000 crore in an integrated textile park that can house around 50 units near its existing plant at Santej, for which the company is scouting for a land of over 200 acres.
Similarly, Welspun is planning to invest close to Rs. 3,000 crore for an integrated manufacturing plant. Welspun India plant will focus on almost the entire textile value chain, right from spinning, weaving, processing and manufacturing.
