Sutlej Textiles and Industries Ltd. (STIL) has been working on a brownfield project for expanding capacity of value-added products at Bhawanimandi, Rajasthan. The work on the expansion project for adding 35,280 spindles at a project cost of Rs. 270 crores is progressing satisfactorily. At present, trial run is going on 33,840 spindles. The project is likely to commence commercial production in Q4 FY 2017, as per schedule. Sutlej will also install 17 circular knitting machines by June 2017.
The project, being funded by a mix of internal accruals and term loans sanctioned under TUFS, aims at producing value-added cotton and cotton-blended dyed and mélange yarn.
Sutlej has also been investing in expanding capacity for manufacturing home textiles. The expansion project to increase the installed annual capacity to 9.6 million is progressing as per schedule and is likely to be complete by Q4 FY 2017. Out of 54 looms to be installed, the company has installed 36 and has placed an order for 18 looms. The present installed annual capacity has reached 8.4 million metres.
The total project cost of Rs. 88.5 crores is being funded by a mix of internal accruals and term loans sanctioned under TUFS. The increased presence in the home textile segment will result in further strengthening of the company’s end-to-end operations – Yarn to Home Textile.
Sutlej has invested around Rs. 38 crores during H1 FY 2017 towards technology upgradation and debottlenecking, etc. This will result in further improvement in efficiency and sustaining plant utilization. The company intends deploying a further amount of Rs. 46 crores during the year towards technology upgradation and debottlenecking.
Sutlej, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, is one of India’s largest spun dyed yarn manufacturers. Under the stewardship of Mr. C.S. Nopany, Executive Chairman of STIL, who is a Chartered Accountant and Master of Science in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, the company has focused on value-added yarns and home textiles. Over the years, it has also successfully carved out a niche for itself and is holding leadership position in the dyed yarn and cotton mélange yarn segment. The total spinning capacity of the company currently stands at 377,688 spindles.
Sutlej clocked a turnover of Rs. 1128.86 crores, a growth of 14.31 per cent over the same period last year. Commenting on the first half year results for 2016-17, Mr. Nopany said: “The second quarter of the year continued to witness challenges due to global slowdown and stressed rural economy. Sutlej was able to offset these strong headwinds by its prudent raw material purchasing policy in a volatile cotton fiber market by maintaining sufficient cotton inventory at lower prices. With normal monsoon, implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, one-rank-one-pension and other Government initiatives, we are optimistic about the future. I hope that, with ongoing expansion projects to scale up production of value added yarns and home textiles, the company will be able to deliver better performance in the coming years.”
STIL has a strong global clientele and exports to nearly 60 countries. It has presence across major developed and emerging economies like Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Cuba, Egypt and France.