Asset sale fetched NTC Rs 4,034 crore: Maran

The National Textile Corporation (NTC) has earned Rs 4,034 crore through sale of assets as a part of its Modified Revival Scheme (MRS), which mainly includes land of closed mills, according to Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran.

Speaking at the inauguration of four modernised mills of NTC in Coimbatore, Maran said: “I do not want to harp on the past. However, in future, NTC land will not be sold below the market price and transparency will be maintained at all decision-making levels.”

The four mills which were inaugurated are Cambodia Mill, Coimbatore Murugan Mill, Pankaja Mill and Sri Rangavilas Mill. Maran said all four would provide employment to 2,619 workers and there is scope for further enhancement, said Maran.

On NTC, the minister said that the corporation has come out of the red and is charting a new course and has drawn a plan to achieve a turnover of Rs 2,014 crore by 2014 and to turn spinning company into an integrated textiles company with spinning, weaving, processing and garmenting facilities.

He further said NTC has invested Rs 76.55 crore to modernise the four mills, which were inaugurated today, as part of a Rs 5,297-crore scheme. The scheme envisages revival of 43 mills. Of these, according Maran, 24 mills are being modernised by NTC itself and 19 mills are being modernised under PPP model. NTC will focus on downward linkages and re-energise its 93 retail outlets and will make efforts to capture institutional sales to achieve the status of being a country’s clothier.

Meanwhile, according to Maran, the government will set up a National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Specialty Centre at Coimbatore to cater to the need of local textiles industry and provide design, technology and management inputs for individual units as well as for the industry.