| The Sutlej Industries subsidiary forayed into the readymade garment business this year only through a pilot project at Bhilad in Gujarat. |
| C S Nopany, newly elected chairman of Sutlej Industries and vice-chairman of STIL, said the group was now eyeing premium export markets for its garments. The textile division of Sutlej Industries was demerged into STIL earlier this year. |
| He said large garment exporters used to buy fabrics from Sutlej and export them to big foreign brands with a premium. |
| "Besides selling textiles, we shall also try to get into the garment markets in the US and Western Europe in the post-multifibre agreement era. Brands such as Gap and Marks & Spencer are already using our fabrics in garments, which they are buying from other garment manufacturers. We feel there is a market for all," Nopany said. |
| The STIL vice-chairman said the company did not have any immediate plan to enter the domestic market for its garments. |
| "It may look a high-margin business, but there are a lot of hidden costs. We want to concentrate on exports to big brands for the time being," Nopany added. |
| A plant to produce 1.5 million pieces of trousers a year was being set up with a capital outlay of Rs 21 crore, he said. |
| "A pilot project with 1,000 trousers a day capacity has started production and the balance capacity of 3,000 pieces a day is expected by this month-end. Besides, we have started a greenfield project for home furnishing at a capital cost of Rs 26 crore," Nopany added. |
| STIL produces a range of fabrics including viscose, cotton, woollen, tencel and modal. |
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