Kitex Garments’ first unit in Telangana by June 2023

Kitex Garments has committed to invest Rs 3,000 crore in Telangana and create employment to 28,000 people

Hyderabad: Kitex Garments, a case study in how a State’s proactive approach can fetch investments and create large scale employment, will start its first project here in June this year.

The company has committed to invest Rs 3,000 crore in Telangana and create employment to 28,000 people. Initially, it wanted to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the State but upped its investments after seeing the State government’s approach, said Sabu Jacob, Managing Director of Kerala-based Kitex, which is the second largest player in the infantwear segment.

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“We started our business in the 1960s. We have a presence in spices, textile and garments. We have invested more than Rs 3,000 crore and are providing employment to about 15,000 people there. We export about a million garments a day to the US. Unfortunately, we were forced to come out of Kerala due to the political harassment. There were 12 raids in a month. Kerala did not identify our value,” Jacob said at the CII annual meet here.

“We were thinking to move out of the State. We got calls from States. Telangana too invited us but went all out to arrange a special jet to visit the State. It was in August 2021. Once we reached here, we were taken to the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in a helicopter. When we came back in the evening, I decided to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the State. I did not consult anyone. The decision was instantaneous,” recollected Jacob.

‘I never expected this kind of treatment. I asked if he (KT Rama Rao) wanted investment or employment generation in the State. He immediately said the State wants employment,” Jacob said. In the following days, Kitex increased its investments to Rs 2,000 crore, then revised to Rs 2,400 crore and finally committed to invest Rs 3,000 crore. This also includes its investments in Sitarampur as well.

“We will provide employment to 28,000 people and 80 percent of these will be women. They are unskilled and we will train them,” said Jacob, adding that with the Telangana units, Kitex would be in a position to export 2.5 million units of ‘Made in Telangana’ infantwear to the US. “We want a Minister like KTR. A lot of Keralites are keen on investing in Telangana,” he said.

Suchitra Ella, Chairperson, CII Southern Region mentioned that competitiveness was a critical enabler for growth and success of any industry. CII has built robust capabilities to foster growth in sectoral and enterprise competitiveness.

Like Ease of Doing Business, CII is advocating on Cost of Doing Business (CoDB) that will take into account finance and capital cost, compliance costs and societal and governmental costs and will help States assess the reforms needed to bring in efficiency and lower costs, she said.