Garden to commission Rs 300 cr plant in July

The Surat-based Garden Silk Mills Ltd, will kick off commercial production of polyester filament yarn (PFY) from its new continuous polymerisation plant (CPP) in July. The plant is being developed on the outskirts of Surat at an investment of around Rs 300 crore.

Garden Silk Mills which was not doing well in the past years, is now in an expansion mode.

"The polyester filament yarn (PFY) industry provides an enormous growth opportunity. The company is expanding PFY production on strength of its strong knowledge of PFY, processed yarn and fabric and its strong marketing network," an official of the company told Business Standard.

"The continuous polymerisation plant will have a capacity 2,00,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) polyester filament grade chips. The project was started in January 2004. The project is progressing well, and we expect it to be start commercial production in July," the official said.

"The total internal requirement of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips for the company (1,18,700 TPA), would be met through this project. The remaining 81,300 TPA of production would be sold in the open market as modified chips, bright chips and regular chips," he said.

Over the last two years, Garden Silk Mills has also increased its yarn manufacturing capacity.

"The company started yarn manufacturing in 1994, having a capacity of 7,200 TPA. In November 2002, the company commenced its POY spinning project of 25,000 TPA. The product was well accepted, encouraged by which, the company further expanded its POY capacity by adding another 33,000 TPA. This project commenced production in June 2004, enhancing the company's total yarn capacity to 65,200 TPA," he said.

"It is also increasing its yarn texturising capacity. The company plans to consolidate and further expand the yarn business over the next two years, and expects to be among the top three yarn manufacturers in the country," the official said.

It is worth mentioning here that from a small beginning in the 1920s as a weaving factory, Garden Silk Mills has today become a leader in the textile industry. The company has an annual turnover of Rs 600 crore and a net worth of over Rs 300 crore.

The company was originally promoted as Garden Silk Weaving Factory, by Dr Amichand Shah, a physician, who ventured into the textile arena. The company was converted into a public limited company in 1979, and is currently headed by Praful Amichand Shah, the chairman and managing director.

Today, the company has the largest installation of water-jet looms in the country. The company is the largest seller of branded polyester sarees and dress materials in the country under the brands 'Garden' & 'Vareli'.

The manufacturing plants of the company are situated at Jolwa and Vareli in Surat district. It has also set up highly efficient captive co-generation power plants at both its manufacturing plants.

The company has a network of 16 depots, 74 dealers, 8 showrooms, 104 retail shops and 480 retail counters throughout the country for marketing its products.