Gangotri sets sight on eastern market

Coimbatore-based Gangotri Textiles Limited(GTL), which has a strong foothold in the south and the west, is now eyeing the untapped eastern market to establish its footprint there.

Sunil Keskar, regional marketing manager, GTL, told Business Standard that the company was planning to promote its flagship men's wear brand, Tibre, in the east in a month's time. This will be done through GTL's Coimbatore-headquartered apparel division, Gangotri Apparels.

"Our operations in the east will be done in a phased manner. First, we plan to venture into the Orissa market by next month and then gradually scale up our operations to other eastern states like Chattisgarh and West Bengal," said Keskar.

"In order to meet the increasing demand in the menswear segment, we plan to increase our production capacity four-fold from the present 1,000 pieces per day," he added.

Tibre, a leading player in the premium segment of menswear, which comes in the price tag of Rs 745 to Rs 1,295 per piece, is also planning to foray into the shirts segment by the end of 2007.

Keskar added 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.

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