Our Bureau

Mumbai , June 15

The city-based Minar International Ltd (MIL), the largest merchant exporter in textiles made-up in the country, has decided to set up an integrated and modern processing plant at SIPCOT Industrial Growth Centre in Erode (Tamil Nadu) to meet the growth requirement in the home textiles exports.

The company has been catering to the export market by converting its outsourced fabric with its own cutting and sewing facilities.

Expansion plan

"As a major expansion activity, the company is setting up a wider width fabric processing unit in Erode. This strategic location is selected because the highest amount of grey fabric is woven around this area particularly in reference to fine and super fine fabric categories," said Mr U.K. Nambiar, Chairman and Managing Director, MIL.

This step would enable the company to have its own facilities encompassing the chain of processing, cutting, sewing and packing, he said.

The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 136 crore and commercial operation is expected to start around April next.

MIL has made an application to the Government of Tamil Nadu for acquiring land measuring approximately 21 acres under 99 years lease.

Initially, the unit can process and finish 60,000 metres per day of bleaching or dyeing of light/ medium/dark shades.

Outsourcing preferred

"The company till now was outsourcing its production to smaller companies, to obtain operational flexibility.

However, large foreign buyers now prefer to outsource their production to companies who are fully integrated.

Thus, as a step towards becoming fully integrated, the company is setting up this unit.

The implementation of the processing unit will enable the company to have better control on quality, reduced lead-time, to reduce its cost of production by saving on processing margin," he said.

Processing machinery

The unit will have latest processing machinery and proposed to import processing machines from leading European manufacturers such as Benninger of Switzertland, Osthoff, Kusters and Monforts.

The unit would have continuous processing ranges such as bleaching, mercerising, dyeing, and washing to maintain consistency in large batches.

The process house and the process sequence, including dyes and chemicals, will be based on international standards and will meet the required standard of compliance of US/European buyers and certifying agencies/labs.

"This will have a distinct advantage in marketing. The plant will be equipped with a modern laboratory with a computerized colour matching system and all other facilities of sample dyeing and testing," said Mr Vijay Nambiar, Director, MIL.

During the first nine months ended December 2005, the company has recorded a total income of Rs 258.28 crore and a net profit of Rs 9.02 crore.

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