GHCL plans 30,000 hectares of organic cotton farming

Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd.'s textiles division plans to go for organic cotton contract farming in Gujarat, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in a big way.

The company aims to cover 30,000 hectares in these states. For a start the company has finalised on 2,000 hectares of organic contract farming in Orissa.

The company's organic home linen segment is witnessing a great demand in the European and the US markets. The company is planning to go in for a tie-up with the National Institute of Fashion Technology(NIFT) to allow the students to go in for internships at GHCL units and to tap talents for their facility.

Neeraj Jalan, General Manager, GHCL, told Business Standard: "We are aiming to cover around 30,000 hectares under contract farming for organic cotton. We have identified three states for this which included Gujarat, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. We have finalised around 2,000 hectares of land for contract farming in Orissa. We are in contact with some firms in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, which have expertise in organic cotton farming."

Talking of the very niche and elite market of organic cotton textiles, Jalan said, "It is indeed a very niche and elite market but the demand is increasing manifolds in the European countries as well as the US. Even in India there is a class of people that knows the value of textiles made from organic cotton."

GHCL has launched its first home textile retail brand 'Grace' in the country recently. Grace, which has bed linen, bed covers, pillow and cushion covers will also have a special range made of organic cotton soon. The brand's retailing was officially launched in Gujarat on Wednesday at Ahmedabad.

On the designs, Jalan said, "The designs for Grace will come from our subsidiaries Danriver and Roseby's. We have an access to Danriver's 1,000 designs. We have around 18 designers to 20 designers in Mumbai, Delhi and US working for us. Moreover, we are discussing the possibilities to go in for a tie-up with NIFT to allow students at our manufacturing units for internships and then when the internship is over we can hire the best of them. However, this is at an initial level."

GHCL has identified around 2,500 outlets across India to supply its first home textiles' brand. Around 200 outlets are based in Gujarat. The company will supply the products to these outlets.

The company is also mulling over the idea of opening its own exclusive showrooms or wholly-owned outlets in the country. "We are working on this and a team is working on this concept in New Delhi. However, it is still at the concept level but we would certainly go in for our own outlets," Jalan said.

"The country's organised home textiles market is around Rs 550 crore and we intend to tap at least 10 per cent of the market over the next two or three years," Jalan said, and added that there are only three large players in this segment which includes Welspun, GHCL and Alok.

At present Grace only has bed linen in its range, but over the period the company plans to add bath towels, home furnishings like curtains and kitchen linen in the product range.