PriKnit to import German machinery, expand production

Ludhiana-based PriKnit Apparels Pvt Ltd, a company dealing in T-shirts, trousers, shirts, men's wear and hosiery products, will soon be expanding its present manufacturing unit with an investment of Rs 20 crore.

Expansion work is expected to be completed in the next six months and after that the production capacity will almost be doubled, from 4,000 pieces per day to 7,500 pieces per day.

For this purpose, new machinery will be imported from Japan and Germany for the production of trousers, jackets, mufflers, caps. Their main focus area will be ladies knitwear.

Most of the fabric will be manufactured at the company's in-house facility.

The company, which ventured into retail segment in 2005, has 87-odd retail outlets (company owned and franchisee model) in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Rajasthan.

It is expecting to increase this tally to 100 by March and further to 250 by March 2008. By March 2008, PriKnit outlets will be opened all across the country, with main focus on South India, Assam and West Bengal.

PriKnit Apparels Pvt Ltd Managing Director Vijay Ghai said: "On the initial phase of opening these outlets, we have already spent Rs 50 crore for opening 100 outlets. An equal amount will be spent for opening an equal number of outlets in the second phase. Right now we are focusing on tier II cities and that is why majority of our retail outlets are present there. We have already booked 70 new outlets and 30 of them will be in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana. Once PriKnit becomes 250 outlets strong by March 2008, we will think of raising finance with the help of an initial public offering for another 250 outlets."

Company Director Mohit Ghai said this year, the company will achieve a turnover of Rs 70 crore and after the opening of 250 retail outlets, we expect a turnover of Rs 200 crore."