The Hindu : Business : KPR group plans Rs. 370-crore expansion

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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

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Business

KPR group plans Rs. 370-crore expansion

Staff Reporter

To set up open-end spinning division

COIMBATORE: The KPR group of companies, the Coimbatore-based integrated textile producer, has embarked on a Rs. 370-crore expansion project.

The group will nearly double its existing spinning capacity of 1.11 lakh spindles and set up an open-end spinning division of 4,000 rotors, said its Managing Director, P. Nataraj, and its Executive Director, C. R. Anandakrishnan.

Nearly 20 per cent of the current yarn production of 70 tonnes a day is for captive consumption. In the new unit that will come up at Arasur, nearly 15 km east of Coimbatore, almost the same quantity will be for captive use.

The group plans to commission the open end spinning division by the end of this year and begin production in the proposed factory from September next year.

A quarter of the investments will be from its own funds and the balance will be bank loans under the Technology Upgradation Fund scheme.

Mr. Anandakrishnan said the group had decided to increase the number of spindles because of the surge in demand in the Tirupur market. It recently commissioned a state-of-the-art composite unit at Neelambur, about 12 km east of the city, with nearly 50,000 spindles, a knitting division of 32 machines and a 9.6 MW wind mill. This unit was expected to achieve a Rs. 350 crore turnover during 2005-06 and Rs. 200 crores of it would be from garment exports. The group's total turnover for this year was expected to be Rs. 550 crores, about 60 per cent more than that recorded in 2004-05.

It had a garment production capacity of one crore pieces a year in Tirupur and it would set up another garment unit in Karumathampatti, about 20 km east of Coimbatore, with 1,000 machines by the end of this year.

The group recently opened a marketing office in Germany and will open one more each in the U.K. and in the U.S. "This is to strengthen our direct marketing network," he said. It will help the company cater to even small buyers.

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