Project fully reflects Erode textile industry entrepreneurship
On May 16, the entire nation was hooked on to the TV screens tracking every minute of great Indian election results. I too had similar plans in my mind, but it was destiny’s choice. I was on my way to Erode to get a first-hand report on Texvalley, a project which I didn’t know about till a few days ago. What I saw on its website and its promos where completely out of the world, but honestly I thought it was just an animation gimmick and wasn’t really expecting any great development at the ground level. I had no idea what I was in for.
I should confess that the experience and the visit to Texvalley was absolutely mind blowing. It was as much or even more exciting than Mr. Modi’s victory. As I was driving down the national highway on the outskirts of Erode, I could see a massive project which is almost nearing its completion stage. This is far from what I had ever imagined. Three massive complexes housing a weekly market and a daily market which are nearing completion and an international convention and expo center construction of which is in progress. Built on 18 acres of land and 16 lakh square feet of space dedicated to textile trading, welcome to Texvalley, also known as Erode Textile Mall, India’s largest integrated wholesale textile hub.
It all started in 2008-09 when the Union Government, in its Budget, accorded sanction to two powerloom clusters under the Comprehensive Powerloom Cluster Development Scheme (CPCD) of the Ministry of Textiles (MOT), one in Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) and the other in Erode (Tamil Nadu). Subsequently, C.S. Architects Pvt. Ltd. (CSAPL) was appointed consultant by MoU to implement this scheme on behalf of the Ministry through an SPV. CSAPL conducted diagnostic study along with ITCOT to find out the interventions required for the Erode Cluster.
In 2009 the Erode Textile Mall Ltd. project was approved. The SPV obtained all the statutory clearances in 2011, and the Union Minister of Textiles performed the boomi pooja in January the same year. CSAPL and SPV appointed AC Nielsen to conduct a market feasibility survey and to find out the facilities necessary to support the textile market complex.
The twin advantage
Erode has the twin advantage of having textile manufacturing and trading within the region. A significant part of the textile products manufactured in a 70 km radius of Erode is pushed through its two trade gateways to the retail grids of South India and the rest of India.
With over 12,000 outlets, Erode’s intermediary market is dominated mainly by wholesale traders and to a lesser extent by same manufacturers. Currently, most of the trade in the daily market gateway is done in the heart of Erode across major streets within the town. Erode is also famous for its weekly market run on a rental basis by small and medium-sized manufacturers of textiles who sell their products directly. The weekly market gateway has approximately 4,500 shops operating out of the old market areas in Erode.
The idea of Texvalley was to provide an integrated wholesale textile trading centre which supports the wholesale business activities in Erode. Texvalley aims to uplift Erode and the nearby region’s textile industry by offering a world class platform to showcase and sell the goods produced in the region. Currently thousands of wholesalers, retailers and even direct customers from across India visit Erode regularly to source different categories of textile items, namely, home textiles, lungis, dhotis, grey and yarn dyed fabric, readymade garments, bedsheets and towels. Most of the trading is done through retail outlets or unorganized weekly markets which lack good infrastructure.
Texvalley is attempting to provide these manufacturers and traders world class infrastructure which will help attract more buyers from not just within India but from other global markets as well, resulting in growth of the overall textile industry in the region.
Daily market
The daily market is a sprawling 11.5 lakh square feet monolith of a building with two basements and four floors, including the ground floor. The daily market, as the name suggests, will function every day of the week, except on weekly and national holidays.
In Texvalley’s daily market each trader has a unique requirement and expectation, and Texvalley ensures that the layout, design and distribution of visitors flow across each of the four floors match those business requirements and expectations. The daily market will have 1,600 shops in the four floors with the basements dedicated for ware house and parking.
Texvalley has created nearly 60 model stalls with various themes to give the manufacturers and traders an idea of how it looks. Exquisitely tiled floors, fully air-conditioned shops, glass frontages, high grade signage, user-friendly information kiosks, electronic direction finders, etc., make Texvalley the Trade Gateway of the future. What’s in store is a truly world class, state-of-the-art infrastructure comparable to some of the best trading markets globally.
Weekly market
This vast four lakh sq.ft. building is dedicated totally to the weekly traders of the region. The weekly market of Texvalley has ben built after studying the requirements of the small manufacturers and traders. Its strategic location and smart design give a whole new meaning to the weekly shandy textile business of the region. The weekly market will be the first to start functioning by the end of June. Traders have already booked space, and Texvalley is hoping that from July this market will be bustling with activity.
International Convention Center
The third major component of Texvalley will be the International Convention and Expo Center, a trendy one lakh sq.ft. space which will add great value to the market and to the textile industry and the community in Erode, making it a top destination for textile engagements, from R&D to industrial co-operation. It will play host to trade fairs, large conferences and fashion shows.
Texvalley is designed by taking into account the requirements of the manufacturers and traders who will be setting up shops in the market and the visitors and buyers who would be coming from all across the country and the worldover. For those setting up their shops, Texvalley will be providing complete warehouse support and has also tied up with a few leading logistics providers to ensure seamless movement of goods. The campus has dedicated wide spaces for traders to receive and store their shop samples and immediate shelf inventories. Traders have the option of hiring storage space on a daily, monthly or long-term basis. Common packaging facilities and RFID technology for storage and the retrieval of goods are some of the facilities on offer at the large warehouse.
A lot of effort and thinking has gone into understanding the requirements of the buyers who come from across many locations. Starting from providing transportation services from the main station to the market, food courts, ATMs, banking and telecom services, dormitories, business center and logistic support, Texvalley will provide a whole new experience for the buyers, and this is expected to attract more buyers from not just within India but from all over the world.
Buyers will get an opportunity to meet hundreds of sellers under one roof, compare the quality and prices and take quick decisions. Earlier, a buyer spent a week visiting textile mills and traders in and around Erode. At Texvalley he can finish his work within a day. Texvalley becomes a one-stop shop for the buyers in the most comfortable environment. This is definitely bound to attract more buyers, resulting in increased business for textile mills and units.
What really impressed me was the fact that all that has been mentioned above are not just on paper or futuristic targets. Texvalley is almost for ready for business. In fact, its promoters took a firm decision to market or sell space to customers only after the project is ready. This is rare considering the fact that most of the promoters normally get the money from the public or buyers even before laying the foundation-stone. This is where I would like to talk a few words about the team which has really worked hard with a lot commitment and dedication in ensuring that Texvalley becomes a reality.
Promoters
As mentioned earlier, Texvalley is a project supported by the Ministry of Textiles. Its main promoters are the Lotus Group and URC, both hailing from the city of Erode. The Lotus Group, headed by Mr. P. Periyaswamy, is a six-decade-old company with a Rs. 500-crore turnover enjoying significant presence in areas like logistics, automobiles, textiles, infrastructure and retail in the region. The URC Group, headed by Mr. C. Devarajan, is a 57-year-old Rs. 750-crore construction company having operation across the country and in the US, Malaysia, the Middle East and Indonesia.
Mr. Periyaswamy has done a lot for the growth and development of Erode. It is this commitment and passion to support the industry and the textile community in and around Erode that has led to the idea of Texvalley. The project has taken a while to complete, but it is finally seeing the light of the day. The promoters are finally seeing their dream come true, and Texvalley truly stands tall, beyond everyone’s imagination.
Another important person and organization which needs mention here is Mr. R. Jeyamohan and his team from C.S. Architects who have been the brain behind this entire project, starting from doing a study on the Erode textile cluster on behalf of the Ministry of Textiles to submitting the project report, getting the necessary approvals, identifying like-minded partners like the Lotus Group and URC to get them associated with the project, and making a dream a reality today. The passion and commitment was obvious when we interacted with Mr. Jeyamohan who is again a native of Erode.
Texvalley will be a major milestone in the history of the Indian textile industry. But this is just the beginning, says Mr. E.P. Kumar, Director of Texvalley and the Lotus Group. The success of Texvalley will hopefully give birth to many such large-scale integrated textile complexes which will change the way we do business today. The core project team has travelled extensively within India and other major textile markets, including China, to understand how such trading markets function. They have some of the best ideas and practices and tried to customize it to suit the Indian requirements.
With the project nearing completion, the promoters have already embarked on a major marketing drive across India conducting over 30 road shows and participating in important textile events over the next 12 months in all key markets across India and overseas to attract buyers. Texvalley wants to ensure that every manufacturer and trader, small and big, going to be part of this project should get benefited and should see their business grow. If this is the kind of commitment towards this project, I am sure that Texvalley will be a big success and we could well see more such Texvalleys coming up across the country. This will be a model project and will truly revolutionise the way textile trading is being done in India.