From its modest origins more than three decades ago, KPR Mill has indeed come a long way and is now recognised as a leading manufacturer in the textile industry. In fact, it has further strengthened its portfolio with diversification into other segments, including its most recent foray into garment retail
The success of KPR Mill Ltd. is an example of a business that started from a humble beginning and eventually grew into a force to be reckoned with. The journey, however, has had its fair share of challenges but has also been one of dedicated and diligent efforts along with employing the right strategies to be able to survive and also grow in as competitive a sector as textiles. Its founders hail from an agricultural background and there were several obstacle courses they had to run through before reaching its present milestone. The company is now engaged in various sectors along with textiles, including sugar, power generation, automobiles and education. It was in 1984 that KPR Mill commenced its maiden business at Coimbatore. This was followed by export of knitted garments in 1989.
In 1995, it set up its first spinning unit at Sathyamangalam with 6,000 spindles to produce cotton hosiery yarn. This was expanded to 30,240 spindles in 2000. The following year it set up a spinning mill at Karumathampatti with 30,240 spindles along with a knitting facility and a green power wind mill for captive use. In 2003, another spinning unit was established at Neelambur with 50,784 spindles along with a knitting facility and a wind mill. The facility at Arasur was set up in 2005 with a spinning unit of 1,00,800 spindles and a garment manufacturing unit. KPR Mill is now a formidable group of companies that has earned it the title of the being one of the top 500 listed corporates while the company’s CEO has been counted among the top 100 corporate leaders of India.
The company operates with manufacturing units installed with the most advanced technology and a workforce of over 24,000 people. It has the capacity to produce 1,00,000 MT of yarn per annum, 27,000 MT of fabrics per annum, and 115 million readymade knitted apparel per annum – thus making it one of the largest garment producers in India. It also has industry-acclaimed ETP embedded fabric processing capacity of 22,000 MT per annum equipped with advanced cold processing technology and a sophisticated printing division with a capacity to print 7,500 MT per annum. In its portfolio are included 66 wind mills with a total green power generation capacity of 61.92 MW and co-gen cum sugar plant with a capacity of 30 MW and 5,000 TCD. It has also ventured into the retail sector under its own brand name as well as production of ethanol.
Ethiopia venture
KPR Mill has now set up a new garment unit with a production capacity of 10 million garments per annum at Ethiopia. Employees were recruited and trained at its unit at Arasur. The required capital equipments and materials were imported and commercial production has already commenced while trial consignments have been shipped. Preliminary activities with renowned brands are in progress so as to enhance the business. KPR Mill has also promoted a wholly owned subsidiary company at Singapore, KPR Mill Pte Ltd. for the purpose of strengthening its international business.
Brand FASO
KPR Mill has recently embarked into the retail industry with the launch of an inner wear and athleisure brand named ‘FASO – Italian at Heart’ (Fashion Adapted Sustainable and Organic). FASO products are segmented in three different premium ranges, namely, comfort, style and supreme. Initially launched in South India in 2019, it made available its first batch of 15 products through five distributors and 250 dealers for the three cities of Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai.
As per K.P. Ramaswamy, Chairman, KPR Mill, the products will be made in-house with an investment of Rs. 50 crores for manufacturing. The products are styled by an Italian designer. The FASO collections are designed for style while being skin-friendly, and available in a wide range of with bright trendy colours.
The raw material used is 100% superfine cotton to provide ultra-soft comfort and manufactured using Mayer and Cie. circular knitting machines – the best available technology globally. The product categories include briefs, trunks, boxer shorts, vests, gym vests, and muscle tees. Moreover, the products are manufactured using combed organic cotton and micro nylon elastic. Due care is taken in the process of fibre to finished products using in-house state-of-the-art technology and process facilities across the value chain. This enables a highly sustainable manufacturing facility with social and environmental compliance. FASO would have its footprint across the country by 2020.
Operational review
KPR Mill has been delivering steady growth in the last few years. In 2019, the company’s turnover rose by 19% and the net profit by 28% over the previous year. The operating results were driven by volume growth in most of the segments. Supported by expanded activities, the garment unit saw good traction. The revenue from its spinning segment has crossed Rs. 2,000 crores. Its strong product pipeline gives the company confidence on maintaining this growth momentum. Operations in its eco-friendly Processing Unit 2 and sophisticated high-resolution printing division have now commenced. The company’s brownfield expansion has elevated its total garment capacity to 115 million per annum, making it one of the largest garment manufacturers in India. Accordingly, its processing capacity has also been increased to match the requirements.