While on one hand it plans a 10 per cent expansion in its denim fabric manufacturing capacity by next year, Arvind Limited is also consolidating its other verticals like garments and real estate. According to Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director of Arvind Ltd., the denim major expects government clearances for its real estate projects in next four months.
"We will monetise our real estate projects once we get permission for lands and zone change which is in process as of now. We should get permissions for townships and zone change for our existing mills in next four months," said Lalbhai, on the sidelines of 'International Conference on Steering Mature Business A Leadership Challenge to the Textile Industry', jointly organised by Fibre2fashion and Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).
The company is planning low cost as well as mid priced housing in Khatraj, Jetlaj, Santej and Ahmedabad. "We have around 2 million sq yards of properties coming up in areas like Santej, Khatraj, and Jetlaj, and another 3.5 lakh in Ahmedabad city. At today's prices, we have a land bank of Rs 600-700 crore," Lalbhai added. Apart from real estate, the company is also bullish on its denim and garment business. By next year, Arvind Ltd. plans to expand its denim fabric manufacturing capacity by 10 per cent to take it to 100 million metres by next year.
Lalbhai also evinced interest in joint ventures with Japanese players as well. "We would love to look at Japanese partnerships but for that we need to improve our managerial capabilities first. We are working on things like ERP implementation, Kaizen, and lean management. We have hired a new lean consultant to transform our managerial processes," he added.
Meanwhile, Arvind Ltd. is looking at taking the domestic and exports ratio to 70:30 in the near future. Currently, the textile giant roughly exports 50 per cent of its production and focusses the rest on domestic.
