NTC takes over two mills in Tamil Nadu

The National Textile Corporation (NTC) has taken over two

closed cooperative mills in Tamil Nadu. The corporation now has seven textile mills in Tamil Nadu, employing about 5,000 people. The closed cooperative mill at Dharapuram was on a 53-acre plot and the Kancheepuram mill was on 30 acres. The NTC would invest over Rs 300 crores to start an integrated textile production facility comprising spinning, weaving, and processing at Dharapuram and a medical textiles unit at Kancheepuram.

The proposal was to start the new facilities in 2011-2012. New machinery would be installed in these units. The integrated unit planned at Dharapuram would have 1.5 lakh spindles, 48 shuttle-less looms and a processing unit with zero effluent discharge system. The NTC currently has 2.14 lakh spindles in the seven mills and would add 33,000 spindles at the Kaleeswara and Pioneer Mills, located near Madurai.

Details of the takeover would be finalized soon as the corporation is all set to expand its operations in Tamil Nadu. NTC had invested Rs 110 crores so far to modernize the existing mills in Tamil Nadu, as part of its revival and expansion plan. The turnover for 2010-2011 from its mills in the southern states was expected to be Rs 580 crores. Of this, nearly 60 per cent would be from Tamil Nadu. Additional investments would be expected to improve viability of operations in the state, according to the official.

According to K Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman and MD, NTC the year 2010 has been a phenomenal one. A five year strategy is in place to double the capacity of spindles and looms; diversify into technical textiles by setting up geo-tech and medi-tech plants and move forward with better integration of back and front operations.