| Textile companies such as Arvind Mills, Ashima Group, Welspun Group, the textile unit of Reliance Industries Ltd and Arvee Denims and Exports Ltd are gearing up to face the challenges in the post-quota period. |
| Global buyers such as Wal-Mart, Target, JC Penney and Tommy Hilfiger have already stated their intention to substantially step up sourcing from India and textile units in the state are planning to take advantage of this opportunity. |
| Competitive cost of labour, good understanding of markets and availability of a large pool of trained manpower are the advantages that the units in Gujarat enjoy. |
| "Keeping in mind the removal of quotas from January 2005 and the tremendous opportunities that will be available to the Indian textile manufacturers, our company has planned an expansion project, increasing weaving capacity by 14 million metres and spinning capacity by 3,100 at cost of over Rs 40 crore. Commercial production on the expanded capacity is expected to start by April next year," Shreyas Parikh, financial controller and company secretary, Arvee Denims and Export, said. |
| Gujarat contributes over 22 per cent of the total Indian textile exports and with the dismantling of the quota regime, Indian textile exports, which is at present pegged at around Rs 25,000 crore, is expected to have a three-fold growth to over Rs 75,000 crore. |
| "We are planning to offer packaged solutions to our customers. We will target on ready-made garments. At present, over 30 per cent of our Rs 430 crore turnover comes from exports, while the company is eyeing to achieve 70 per cent of the turnover from exports in the post-quota regime," said B Ravi, vice president, corporate finance and company secretary, Ashima Group. |
| Arvind Mills is planning to set up a cotton trousers unit and a jeans plant in the ready-made garments sector in Bangalore. With this expansion, the company will double its production capacity to over 14.4 million pieces of garment on a single-shift basis from its existing 7.2 million pieces. |
| The company is eyeing to increase garment production to over 28.8 million pieces on a double-shift basis in the next three years. |
| "The new garment facilities, the 2.1 million pieces per annum jeans unit and the 1.5 million pieces per annum khakis unit at Bangalore are progressing as per schedule and are expected to be completed by the end of the financial year 2005. Arvind is also expanding its knits garment capacity in Ahmedabad to 4.2 million pieces per annum," said Jayesh Shah, chief financial officer and director, Arvind Mills. |
| "Over 50 per cent of the company's turnover of Rs 1,447 crore comes from exports and the company is eyeing to increase its exports substantially," said Shah. |
| The sourcing pattern of key customers have shifted to the Asian and African region and the company is already beginning to witness an increase in bookings from these customers. This shift in sourcing pattern is discernibly different than a temporary shift in demand and supply situation. As such, going forward, volumes are likely to pick up. |
| Reliance Industries is planning to invest heavily in its textile unit at Naroda for seek capacity expansion. |
| Reliance's Naroda unit has assets worth over Rs 300 crore. The complex represents the largest investment in the textile industry at a single location in the country. |
| Welspun India is targeting to double its capacity for terry towels from 12,000 tonne per annum to 24,000 tonne per annum. The company is also planning to install cotton spinning units with a capacity of 14,000 tonne per annum. |
| The company will invest over Rs 500 crore for the expansion project at Anjar in Kutch. The company will raise Rs 325 crore by way of term loans, Rs 110 crore through equity and Rs 64 crore from internal accruals. |
| "Welspun is geared up to take on the opportunities that will be offered to us post-quota regime," said B K Goenka, vice chairman and managing director, Welspun. |
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