K'taka Govt to spend Rs 500 cr for textile sector

Bangalore, Apr 20 (UNI) Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today said his Government would spend Rs 500 crore for the promotion of textile industry in the State.

Inaugurating a modern integrated textiles and garment plant of Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd at Doddaballapur on the outskirts of the city, he said he would soon hold a meeting of textile industrialists in this regard. He urged the textile industrialists to promote the industry in semi-urban areas of the State.

Company Managing Director Prashant Agarwal told reporters here that the Rs 247 crore project was funded partly by term loans raised under TUFS and by proceeds of the company's IPO in November 2005.

''This project as an integrated textile unit has production facilities for yarn dyeing, weaving and 100,000 metres per day of processing and 22,000 pieces per day of garments, with state-of-the-art imported machineries and equipment for processing,'' he said.

With this expansion, the total installed capacity at BRFL had reached 50 million metres per year for fabrics and 64,000 pieces per day of garments, he said.

Mr Agarwal said BRFL had a strong presence in fashion garments and was catering to various international brands from Europe and the US. With mutlifold expansion of its capacity, negotiations were on with other premium labels in the global market.

The company had taken the initiative to start low cost manufacturing centres in rural areas as cities were becoming more and more expensive for taking up projects, he said, adding that the company had started a rural manufacturing centre at Ichalakaranji in Maharashtra by acquiring an existing factory at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore.

UNI