Gangotri plans four-fold capacity expansion

Gangotri Textiles Limited (GTL), would expand its garment stitching capacity fourfold from the present 1000 pieces a day. GTL, which owns the brand 'Tibre', would install six windmills, each with a capacity of 1.65 mega watt, by October 2007, to meet part of its power requirement.

Addressing a press conference, Manoj Kumar Tibrewal, managing director, GTL, said, "We are setting up new textile facilities at Udumalpet and at SIPCOT Industrial Estate in Perundurai at Erode district at a project cost of Rs 351 crore. The project is likely to be completed by October 2006."

GTL has three open-end spinning units, two of which are in Coimbatore and one in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. It also operates a sophisticated ring-spinning unit set-up at Udumalpet, near Palani, and a garment-washing unit in Perundurai. "We plan to install 50,000 spindles in the Udumalpet plant which would produce around 10,205 kg of cotton yarn per day," he added.

Earlier, Sunil Keskar, regional marketing manager of GTL told Business Standard that they would also be venturing into the women's wear segment by unveiling bottomwears and knitted topwears in 2007. Unlike the 100 per cent cotton fabric in men's wear, the products for women would be made of polyester.

The six captive power plants would generate a combined 9.90 mw of electricity and is scheduled to be completed by October 2007. Currently, the company spends around Rs 15 crore to meet its power expenses. It expects a reduction of at least a 15 per cent in this cost after commissioning its own windmills.

The company is funding its plans through a term loan of Rs 257 crore from SBI Capital Markets Limited and a consortium of bankers. GTL has increased its authorised capital from Rs 10 crore to Rs 25 crore through an issue of securities in the form of public offering. The company has also filed the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi for its proposed follow-on public issue of Rs 55 crore.

With the capacity expansion and adding a new product, GTL also looks forward to export its products to the European and US markets, besides revamping the limited exports to the Middle East in a period of two years.