Kothari Industrial Corporation lines up expansion plans across segments: MD

Armed with a new promoter on board, the diversified conglomerate Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd has drawn up aggressive expansion plans across various segments, a top official said.

The company would focus on footwear, fertilisers, food, drone technology, synthetic textiles, solar in the coming years, creating huge job opportunities, Vice- Chairman and Managing Director J Rafiq Ahmed said here.

Detailing his vision plan for the city based group at an interaction, Ahmed who became the Vice Chairman and Managing Director in 2018, said he became an investor in 2014 after being into the steel business.

Ahmed currently has a 47.08 per cent stake in the entity. After the completion of the open offer on equity shares, his holding in the group could go up to 73.07 per cent.

After getting delisted from the stock exchanges in 2000, the company got relisted recently.

Elaborating about the plans for the company, Ahmed said, "We are going to grow very aggressively. The old glory that Kothari had will definitely come back. I want to continue the legacy (of the Kothari Group)."

Observing that the Kothari group was into fertilisers, he said his company was engaged in talks with Qatar-based Sheikh Falah Bin Jassin Bin Jabor Al Thani for setting up a fertiliser factory in that country.

"After that we can also look at neighbouring countries of Qatar (for their expansion plans). We have approached the Qatar government on this," he said.

The total project cost to set up a fertiliser factory in Qatar is estimated to be about Rs 7,000 crore, he said.

Apart from the fertiliser industry, Ahmed said they would set up two factories to produce non-leather footwear in Tamil Nadu for which the talks are going on.

"My dream is to set up component clusters in Tamil Nadu and later set up them in other parts of the country. Already for a component cluster in Perambalur, 23 partners have signed up," he said.

Currently, Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd has signed pacts for manufacturing and distribution of Crocs and Kickers brand of footwear in India and have set up a facility in Perambalur about 250km south of Chennai.

Ahmed said the company was also going aggressively into the food and drone technology business as there was a huge requirement for drones among the agricultural community.

"We have set up the first drone training school in Madurai and have plans to set up across districts in Tamil Nadu. Later, we want to expand all over India," he said and added that there was huge demand for drone operators in the country.

With several plans lined up, the overall project cost would be about Rs 16,000 crore to Rs 17,000 crore spread over the next two years. The shareholding pattern and investment structure were yet to be finalised, he said.

On the food business, Ahmed said they have planned to set up a chain of vegetarian restaurants in Chennai.