Rs 20 cr centre for processing shawl to come up in Ludhiana

To benefit the shawl and hosiery industry of Punjab, especially in Ludhiana and Amritsar, the Ludhiana Dyers and Processors Ltd, with the Central Wool Development Board (CWDB), is soon coming up with a shawl-processing centre at Ludhiana with an initial investment of Rs 20 crore.

"The board has released the first installment of Rs 50 lakh and the remaining money is expected to be released by March," Om Prakash, executive director, CWDB, said.

It is expected that the project will be completed within two years. Of the total money, Rs 6 crore will be contributed by the Central Wool Development Board and remaining by Ludhiana Dyers and Processors Ltd. For the project, the Punjab government has already given 1.75 acres near the Punjab Trade Centre, Ludhiana, on lease for 30 years.

The contract has been signed and Ludhiana Dyers and Processors Ltd will have to pay Re 1 per square yard per year for the same.

Speaking to Business Standard, Mridula Jain, managing director, Ludhiana Dyers and Processors Ltd, said shawl processors of Ludhiana had been lacking in dyeing and finishing of shawls and other hosiery products right from the beginning.

"As the whole set-up for doing the same is very costly and it is not economically viable for small players to come up with such centre at their premises, we have been in talks with the Ministry of Commerce since 1994 and it is now that the project has been sanctioned," he added.

"In some cases, due to the lack of proper facilities like colour matching and finishing, 60 per cent of the products were rejected by exporters. Wool is a very delicate yarn and it's very difficult to process it. If it's done in a wrong way, we had to process it again, which leads to a lot of shrinkage and even the final product is not good. So, our industry was in a great need for such a processing centre," added Jain.