The Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd. (KICL) is betting big in the footwear and leather space in Tamil Nadu and has lined up several plans for the next two years.
In August this year, KICL, along with Phoenix Accord Ltd., signed two deals with the Tamil Nadu government in the presence of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. One was for a non-leather footwear manufacturing at an investment of ₹1,200 crore. The project will create jobs for 20,000 people. And the second one is for a footwear cluster (a plug-and-play infrastructure). And this particular project is worth ₹500 crore and will provide jobs to over 5,000 people.
During an interaction, Jinnah Rafiq Ahmed, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of KICL, said: “India lacks good quality component and materials. So, we will be creating a cluster comprising fly-knit making unit. This will be an important unit given the growth envisaged in non- leather footwear industry. The cluster will have an adhesive making unit (mainly water based) and sole mould making unit among others. In short, this will be a model component cluster which will not only service our shoe factories but will also service other industries.”
Mr. Ahmed said: “We have tied up with our investment partners from Qatar and we will create a state-of-the-art non-leather footwear factory to service domestic as well as export markets. We are roping a leading manufacturer in the Far East as a technical partner for this.”
The Tamil Nadu government is focussing more in the leather and footwear space and more recently unveiled the Footwear and Leather Products Policy 2022, through which it aims to attract investments to the tune of ₹20,000 crore and create over two lakh jobs.
