The Hindu Business Line : Gangotri Textiles to focus on design, development

Better times ahead: (From left):The Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister, Mr M.K.Stalin; the Union Minister for Communications, Mr A. Raja; and the Managing Director of Gangotri Textiles, Mr Manoj Kumar Tibrewal, at Perundurai plant of GTL, on Monday. —

R.Yegya Narayanan

Perundurai (Tamil Nadu), Aug 24 The Coimbatore-based Gangotri Textiles Ltd (GTL), which has taken up a Rs 350-crore expansion plan, is betting on its proximity to Bangalore and Chennai to tap the demand from export houses. The company, which has a presence with its ‘tibre’ brand in the mid and higher end of the men’s wear market, is planning to cater to the lower end by launching products under another brand ‘fugo’.

The Managing Director of GTL, Mr Manoj Kumar Tibrewal, said last year was a ‘very, very bad year’ for his company and that the worst was ‘almost over’. He said against the planned expansion, the company has already invested Rs 340 crore. Nearly Rs 250 crore was invested in the weaving, processing and yarn dyeing plant at Perundurai SIPCOT complex. GTL is also revising its business strategy by positioning itself strongly on ‘value segment’ or lower end of the men’s wear market.

Mr A.S.Ravichandran, Director, GTL, said the company softlaunched the brand ‘fugo’ without labelling some time back. There was good response to the products in the Rs 300-700 range, He said GTL was already supplying high quality fabric to some leading brands in the South such as Peter England, Van Heusen, Pantaloon and Arrow from the Perundurai plant for the past six months. The ‘tibre’ brand’s contribution, at about Rs 13 crore-Rs 15 crore, would be about 10 per cent of the overall turnover of GTL during the current fiscal.

He said by next year, GTL’s main focus would be on design and development . He wanted the share of the garment division to be doubled from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the turnover. The thrust would be on supplying to large scale retailers such as Pantaloon, West Side etc in their own brand name in a sustained manner from January onwards.

Mr Tibrewal said Bangalore was the hub for the woven wear, with a daily demand for woven fabric at around 30 lakh metre. This was mainly met by suppliers in the North. He wanted to target this demand.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Mr M.K. Stalin, who visited the weaving and processing plant evinced particular interest in the functioning of the effluent treatment plant there.

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