he latest flare-up owes its origin to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to send his Textile Minister S Savitha to Kerala to woo Kitex to Andhra Pradesh. Savitha, who visited the headquarters of KGL at Kizhakkambalam near Kochi, was impressed with the facilities and made a formal invitation to managing director, Sabu Jacob, to set up a unit at Amaravathi. KGL is the world’s largest maker of cotton and organic cotton ready-to-wear garments for infants and children between 0-24 months.
“We do not have any immediate plans for Andhra Pradesh, but with new tariff regimes imposed across Asia and opening up of newer free trade markets, there could be an opportunity to expand in the long run”, Sabu said.
The war of words between the ruling LDF government and KGL began when Sabu Jacob decided to float a political party, Twenty-20 in 2015. The party was successful in bagging the Kizhakkambalan and nearby Panchayats from LDF. Twenty-20 transformed the panchayats into a successful model for any panchayat to emulate – 24-hour water, health facilities including insurance, better schools, roads, including grocery shops offering minimum prices etc. “My father M.C Jacob’s logic was that as the business grows, the community too has to grow and that is our party’s goal,” says Sabu Jacob.
Sabu Jacob who presented a Rs 3,500-criteria investment proposal at the Ascend Global investment meet organised by Kerala Govt withdrew the proposal for assorted reasons.
It was at this juncture that the then Telangana Government of K Chandrasekhar Rao rolled out the red carpet for him to invest in the state. Sabu Jacob launched two yarn-to- garments facilities in Hyderabad and Warangal. In fact, the Telangana Government recently showcased the Kitex project as a major achievement at the recent World Economic Forum at Davos. The Kitex investment of Rs 3,600 crore in Telangana is the biggest ever investment in the textile sector and will generate employment for 50,000 people when both the units go full steam. The original Kitex unit in Kerala employs 11,000 people, which is the largest employment generator across any unit in Kerala.
The offer by the Andhra Pradesh Government to set up a new unit comes at a time when Bangladesh, a major textile manufacturer, is facing a political crisis. Also, with EU expected to offer free trade opportunities, Kitex sees a new opportunity to expand in the global market. Kitex sells to world’s top retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, Mothercare et al. ” It’s unlikely that a kid in the US hasn’t worn clothes made at our factory”, avers Sabu Jacob.
Kitex Garments Ltd. (KGL), which is a part of the Anna Kitex group, has diversified interest in aluminium vessels, home appliances, spice trading and textiles. KGL manufactures and exports infant wear to apparel retailers based out of the US and other developed markets.
The company has a fully integrated manufacturing facility at Kizhakkambalam near Cochin in Kerala. It makes 2.7 lakh pieces per day. The company also has a design and marketing company based out of the US so as to diversify its business profile and reduce dependence on his key customers.
The baby clothing market accounts for 33 per cent of the aggregate global children wear market whose size is estimated in the vicinity of $ 60 billion. (By arrangement with www.shortpost.in)
