Apparel maker Kitex Group has announced an investment of Rs 1,000 crore over a two-year time period in Telangana, after backing out from its plan to invest Rs 3,500 crore in Kerala.
The “Phase-1” investment would be in the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal, a tier-2 city located about 150 km northeast of Hyderabad, and is expected to generate about four thousand jobs for the state.
On Friday, a delegation of the Kitex group headed by its chairman Sabu Jacob held a series of meetings with Telangana industries minister KT Rama Rao to decide to invest in the state.
The Kitex top management had arrived in Hyderabad in a special jet sent by the K Chandrashekar Rao government as part of its efforts to attract the investment that Jacob stated he was withdrawing from Kerala.
Before departing from the Kochi airport, Sabu reportedly said that “he was being hounded out of Kerala.”
Jacob, whose is operating in Kerala for over five decades, has alleged that the atmosphere in Kerala has become non-conducive for operating existing or launching new businesses.
He has earlier complained that his units were raided 10 times within a month by Kerala officials of various departments.
He also rued that no Kerala minister bothered to enquire about the reasons for his withdrawal, “while chief ministers of several states telephoned him and Telangana has invited, sending a private jet.”
However, reacting to Jacob's accusations, Kerala's industries minister P Rajeev reportedly said that inspections of Kitex Garments were following several complaints against the company to the National Human Rights Commission, Kerala High Court etc.,
In Hyderabad, minister Rao presented the group an overview of Telangana's friendly investment policies, availability of various resources for textiles industry growth in the state.
“Telangana’s cotton is one of the finest in the world,” Rao further told Jacob, while explaining about the single-window clearances, and the other advantages Telangana offers industrialists for a hassle-free investment.
States like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu were also vying for Kitex investment, offering special incentives.
After the initial round of meetings with Rao and the industry department officials, the Kitex team was flown to Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in a helicopter for inspection of the proposed location for the unit.
Later in the evening, the Kitex delegation met minister Rao again and Jacob announced their “in-principle” decision of investing Rs 1000 crore in the KMTP, Warangal, “under Phase 1”, indicating that the company intends to invest more.
Rao assured all possible cooperation for the group to set up their units at the earliest in Telangana.