Nahar Mills plans to invest Rs 100 cr in Bhopal plant

Nahar Spinning Mills Ltd, a subsidiary of the Nahar group, is going to make a fresh investment of Rs 100 crore in its Mandideep plant, some 18 km away from Bhopal. The investment will be made for expanding the plant to add another 25,000 spindles.

Nahar Spinning Mills at Mandideep has 66,000 spindles. The unit is 100 per cent export-oriented. Its exports reach the United States, south eastern countries, Europe, Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Dubai, Bahrain, South Africa, Canada, Egypt and Bangladesh.

"We will soon perform bhoomi poojan for our expansion of Rs 100 crore and will add another 25,000 spindles to our existing unit. We have sufficient land area in the vicinity," MS Tyagi, executive director of the company, told Business Standard.

The new unit will also have an additional captive power unit. The company's existing unit produces cotton/blended spinning and knitwear.

The new unit will not only expand its export basket size but also generate more employment in the state. "We will add more employees to the new unit and job creation will be in range of 100-125 persons," said Tyagi.

But quality power has been the biggest issue for textile units in general and Nahar Spinning in particular. The company is still battling for some issues with state government in Jabalpur High Court with the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board.

"If the government has to attract more investment, they will have to ensure quality and regular power at much competitive rates. We have to set up our own captive power (the existing unit already as an 8 Mw captive power plant) in the absence of quality power supply in Madhya Pradesh. The cess and electricity duty on captive power generation are the highest (0.41 paise per unit) in India, which makes domestic industry less competitive," he said.

"But we are ready for expansion by next month. It will be completed within a year," he added.

On expansion he said, "The market is expanding globally and we will have to maintain pace with the world and find new markets." The company also plans to set up another unit of non-woven garments in Mandideep, which will be the "first of its kind" in India.

The textile sector in MP is looking up after the non-quota regime. But power is the main issue that still haunts the yarn manufacturers. The state has 51 small and big textile units with a total exports of more than Rs 1,200 crore.

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Spin masters

At present, the Mandideep plant has 66,000 spindles

The unit is 100% export-oriented

It produces cotton/blended spinning, knitwear

The new unit will have an extra captive power unit. The Mandideep unit already has an 8 Mw captive power plant

The company will hire 100-125 persons to facilitate expansion