Indiabulls arm, Zoom among 14 in fray for NTC mill recast

NEW DELHI: National Textile Corporation (NTC) has received expressions of interest (EoI) from 14 companies, including Indiabulls Real Estate and Zoom Developers, to modernise 18 of its mills.

The modernisation of these mills would be carried out through the joint venture route where NTC would have a 51% stake while the balance would be held by the private company. Alok Industries, Abhishek Industries, Alps Industries, Falcon Tyres, Kamala Industries, Ganesh Polytech, SBPL, AI Champdany, Mangrul Mills, Bhaskar Industries, Liners India and Bala Techno Synthetic are among the companies that are in the fray for floating JVs.

The modernisation process is expected to increase annual yarn production of the 18 mills taken together from about 39 million kg to at least 59 million kg. The 18 mills are primarily concentrated in Maharashtra. The remaining are located in UP, Orissa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“Eligible bidders would be shortlisted from these 14 names after our consultants complete the evaluation of the EoIs,” NTC chairman K Ramachandran Pillai told ET. Eligibility would be on the basis of their annual turnover (Rs 50 crore minimum), expertise in textile manufacturing (at least five years) and profitability of business.

Each of the 14 companies is expected to make a presentation of their company’s profile and interest around mid-May. They would be visiting the mills for the purpose, Mr Pillai said. No limits have been imposed on the number of mills a private company can partner with.

The 18 mills together have around 5.4-lakh spindle capacity. The partnering firm is expected to bring in state-of-the-art technology to increase production. Addition in spindles would be decided by the firm as and when the JV between the private firm and NTC becomes operational. Forty-nine percent of stakeholding would lie with the private developer, who would bring in the required technological and management expertise.

“Investment required for modernisation would vary from mill to mill depending on their existing state of technology,” Mr Pillai said. Out of a total of 7,000 workers in the 18 mills, NTC expects that 4,000 workers would opt for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in the wake of modernisation.