Sutlej Industries is India’s largest spun-dyed yarn manufacturer and is among the country’s leading textile producers with a wide presence across the value chain, from yarns to home textiles. The company has three manufacturing units located in Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The Sutlej plant in Rajasthan, with a capacity of 90,432 spindles, produces cotton yarns and man-made fibre yarns. The plant in Jammu & Kashmir, with a capacity of 96,000 spindles of cotton mélange and 107,304 spindles of man-made fibres, produces cotton mélange yarns and man-made fibre yarns. The Gujarat plant produces home textiles furnishing with a capacity of 5 million metres per annum (62 shuttleless looms). The company revenues stood at Rs. 1,878.22 crores for 2014-15.
Sutlej commenced commercial production of its 31,104 new spindles installed in November 2014 at Jammu & Kashmir, at a project cost of Rs. 151 crores to produce value-added cotton mélange and cotton-blended dyed yarn.
The group increased its home textiles capacity from 2.5 million metres to five million metres per annum and is now in the process of expanding its operational capacity by 4.6 million metres to 9.6 million metres per annum. Commercial operation is to start in a phased manner during 2016-17.
Sutlej has expanded its yarn spinning capacity to 293,736 spindles, of which 96,720 spindles are utilised to make cotton mélange and cotton blended dyed yarn. It has commenced work on a brown field project installing 35,280 spindles at its Bhawani Mandi facility at a project cost of Rs. 270 crores. The dedicated capacity is focused on producing value-added cotton mélange and cotton blended dyed yarn.
Acquisition
Sutlej Textile is in the process of acquiring Birla Textile Mills of Chambal Fertilisers and Chemical Ltd. at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Birla Textile’s capacity of 83,376 spindles to manufacture cotton, synthetic and blended yarns in grey and dyed forms will enhance Sutlej’s spinning capacity to 377,112 spindles.
Sutlej has a very modern plant. Nearly 164,312 spindles out of 293,736 spindles are less than 10 years old as at the close of 2014-15. The company has invested Rs. 758 crores over the decade in plant upgradation, modernisation and expansion. These investments made it possible for the company converge volume, efficiency and quality, translating into enhanced customer loyalty and profitability.
The company invested around Rs. 17 crores in the current year towards technology upgradation, debottlenecking, etc. This will result in further improvement in efficiencies and plant utilization. It plans an additional investment of Rs. 79 crores for the purpose during the year.
By Rajeswari Prasad