Liberty Shoes to invest Rs 160cr for 3 units

Liberty Shoes ltd will set up three new manufacturing units to double production capacity to one lakh pairs of footwear per day in the next three
years, and is planning to invest Rs 160 crore for the expansion plan.

"We are coming up with three plants in 2006-07. We are increasing our capacity from 50,000 pairs per day at present to 75,000 pairs within a year, and to one lakh pairs in three years," Adesh Gupta, CEO of Liberty Shoes, said today.

While one unit would be at Roorkee in Uttaranchal, two units would be located at Ponta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh.

The company would invest Rs 50 crore for the Roorkee plant for manufacturing leather footwear, and Rs 30 crore for the two units at Ponta Sahib for non-leather shoes, Gupta added.

The company would invest Rs 80 crore by 2008 for further expansion, he said adding funds would be sourced through internal accruals and bank loans in 1:1 ratio.

Gupta said the company was looking to increase its presence in the US through its tie-up with Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and termed it
as one of the reason for ramping up capacity. "We had tied-up with Wal-Mart a year ago, and our footwears are on display on trial basis in 35 of their stores," Gupta said, adding the company would be supplying more to the retail giant from the next financial year.