Vardhman unit starts in Satlapur

The Satlapur unit (near Bhopal) of SP Oswal-promoted Vardhman group has started production. The unit will have the spinning capacity of 200,000 looms.

The group has its unit in Mandideep, in the vicinity of the new unit, with 75,000 spindles.

"We have started trial production on 15,000 looms and commercial production will start by next month," a top executive of the company told Business Standard.

Unlike the Mandideep unit, which is 100 per cent export-oriented, the new unit will produce yarn for export as well as domestic supply equally. The group has invested approximately Rs 600 crore in the unit and is expected to create 2,000 jobs.

The state still does not have quality power and good roads. Vardhman has a solution for it--its own power and rail links.

Besides homegrown cotton, the company will source raw material from Maharashtra and Gujarat. "We will haul cotton and supply material through the new container depot (dry port) at Mandideep and will produce our own power," the executive said.

Vardhman is also setting up a spinning, weaving and dyeing unit in Budni (60 km from Bhopal). Civil work at the unit is going on.

The unit is coming up near the Narmada River since a unit of this capacity needs plenty of water. The total investment in the Budni unit is approximately Rs 800-900 crore.

During the last decade the state suffered in yarn production due to acute power shortage and poor infrastructure. Plus, quota regime restrictions have also forced companies to suspend their expansion plans.

The state has 51 textile units. It grows one of the finest cotton varieties in India.

However, export-oriented units face problems since state does not have cotton-handling facilities. Thus the cotton accumulates dust and other foreign materials and this increases the rejection rate at the units.