KVS group to invest Rs 35 cr

The 300-crore KVS group will spend Rs 35 crore on the expansion programme of its Kashipur-based Shivangee Crafts Ltd, a textile-spinning unit, to double its capacity from 11,000 spindles to 21,000 spindles this year.

"We are currently carrying out expansion in our mill to double its capacity. For this purpose, we will be spending Rs 35 crore," said Yogesh Kumar Jindal, director of Shivangee Crafts Ltd, a firm with a turnover of Rs 50 crore. The expansion work was likely to be completed by October 2006, Jindal said.

Now, the mill, which started functioning in March 2000, produces synthetic blended yarn, polyester viscose yarn, and polyester acrylic yarn. The mill supplies yarn to markets in Bhilwara, Kanpur, Surat, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Through this expansion programme, Shivangee Crafts Mill, which produces 3,600 tonnes of yarn every year, will raise the total capacity to 6,000 tonnes of yarn annually. Dyed yarn, a new feature, will also be added to the mill this year.

The management of the mill will add 400 more workers, raising the strength to 900.

Besides this, the KVS group is also setting up power looms and it provides training to local people to produce special products for tourists. To encourage knitting and weaving, the group will take the help of its research and development wing to make new designs by incorporating the key features of Uttaranchal. "We want to produce ethnic designs with a blend of modernity," Jindal said.

The mill has been making profits at a time when all the major spinning mills--Kashipur, Jaspur, Nagina and Belwal--situated in the Kumaon region are shut down because of a severe financial crunch. "We have a marketing and analysis wing, which keeps a close watch on the market and makes suggestions for improvement from time to time," Jindal said.

Encouraged by the performance of its mill, the group is also contemplating a plan to set up a garment factory with foreign collaboration with an investment of Rs 5-7 crore shortly. "We will disclose the name of our foreign collaborator very soon," Jindal said.