A fresh chapter begins at Kothari Industrial as Rafiq Ahmed takes over…

He takes over the reign from Mr. Pradip D Kothari, son of late D.C. Kothari who founded the company. Mr. Ahmed became the promoter of the company last year. Since then, KICL has also returned to the stock market with the relisting of its shares on BSE.

As he took over the mantle of Executive Chairman, an emotional Mr. Ahmed requested the KICL family to dedicate themselves to the task of pushing the company into a higher growth orbit.

Mr. Ahmed will now manage the company affairs without the involvement of D C Kothari family. However, he has reiterated his commitment to continue the legacy of the visionary founder.

In an informal interaction with presspersons, Mr. Ahmed indicated that KICL would set up a brand new NPK fertiliser facility in the southern part of Tamil Nadu.  In December last year, Qatar-based F J Global and Investment, owned by Falah Jassim J.M.AL-Thani, picked up a 10 per cent stake in KICL at a total cost of Rs. 176.4 crore. F J Global and Investment is a company that belongs to the Qatar royal family. Falah Jassim J.M.AL-Thani, a former minister of the Qatar government, is a promoter-director of Doha Bank and also a founder of Qatar Airways. Mr. Ahmed indicated that Falah Jassim J.M.AL-Thani would be inducted  into the board of KICL very soon.

KICL could soon ink a long-term pact to import critical input for the proposed facility. “Raw material issue is key in fertiliser production. Once that is tied up, things will get going,” he added. The finer details of the project were still being worked out, he said.

Mr. Ahmed also suggested that KICL would go big on drones. Indicating that KICL would set up a drone school in Madurai, he said that the entry into drones would ideally position KICL as an end-to-end service provider for farmers.

On the agenda of the new Executive Chairman is a proposal to set up an industrial park in southern Tamil Nadu and expand footprint in the footwear field by establishing two more facilities – one each at Eraiyur and Karur in Tamil Nadu. They are already putting up a non-leather footwear park in the backward Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu. Ahmed is also toying with the idea of putting to productive use the nearly 20 acres of land that KICL has in Telangana where once Foster’s beer factory was functioning. The facility remains non-functional since liquor prohibition was announced by Andhra Pradesh Government.