Even as the economies across the globe are reeling under massive retrenchments and cost-cutting measures, the upcoming general elections are springing up different surprises for Kanpur.
The city is showing signs of unanticipated industrial renaissance following refurbishment under various industrial packages.
Despite the retrenchment blues plaguing all major industries, the city-based JK jute mill has started production last month. The mill management is recruiting around 200 more employees to meet its expanding production and sale. “We will recruit around 1,300 more employees in next three months to realise the full working capacity of the plant,” Lalit Mohan Aggrawal, JK jute mill managing director told Business Standard.
Currently, the mill is providing job to around 2,700 workers and is expected to work to full capacity by February next year after the new staff is hired.
Orders are pouring in from clients in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. “The orders are mainly due to the expected demand for jute packaging bags for food grains to be harvested in March next year,” Aggrawal added.
The state government has meanwhile, issued a directive to the mill management to reopen the JK Cotton mill after a span of 13 years. It will hire around 4,000 people within next three months, in an era when corporates are busy issuing leaves to their employees.
When asked about the unusual proposal of recruiting such large workforce, the mill president, RK Satti told Business Standard that the market for hosiery and textile products was still booming in the country and the plant would focus on capturing this segment.
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The Duncans fertilizer plant is also set to follow suit as three private investors have expressed interest in investing around Rs 425 crore in the plant revival process.
The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has already sanctioned Rs 405 crore for the revival package.
The plant will employ another 2,500 workers, which will fulfill the increasing demand for urea and DAP fertilizer in the country.
Mushrooming private coaching institutes in the city are also set to receive a boost as the administration has decided to develop a coaching park for the first time in the country.
The park will attract world class facilities to the students from all over the country, lending a fillip to the city’s educational economy.
Currently, about 15,000 people are engaged in the ‘coaching economy’ directly and indirectly. “Once the park is developed, demand for skilled managers and workers will provide employment to local talent,” Kanpur Developemnt Authority (KDA) secretary ON Singh told Business Standard.
So, doomsayers for Kanpur’s industrial future may need to rethink.