The shareholders of Indo Count Industries Ltd., a 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and a leading spinning & knitting company, approved a diversification into table linen, bed linen, curtains and made-ups at its recently concluded AGM held at Kolhapur. This will be Indo Count's maiden foray in home furnishings, and will involve an outlay of Rs 163 crore.
The diversification programme would be funded through a combination of debt, fresh equity and internal accruals.
Speaking at the AGM, Mr. Anil Kumar Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Indo Count said, "The diversification is part of our long term strategy to strengthen our position among textile players. Owing to the current US-China differences and our government's thrust towards this sector, we see the market growing manifold." He added that the new project was prompted by the huge demand for bedsets in the US and other markets. Although the bedsets are primarily targeted at the burgeoning demand from the US, Indo Count
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The new facility aims to produce 36 million of processes fabrics annually, which in turn will be finished into made-ups. The state-of-the-art facility will have air jet looms and a continuous process house besides stitching facilities. A provision has been made for advanced facilities like design studio, R&D etc. at the new facility.
While the ground breaking for the project has already been done commercial production is expected to commence by July 2006. "We expect to achieve 30-40% capacity utilization and also clear out glitches, if any, in terms of production in the first six months. The yarn would be sourced in-house and from outside," said Mr. Mohit Jain, Director. The project is being implemented at the new Five Star MIDC Industrial Area at Kagal, about 8 kms. from the existing plant at Kolhapur in Maharashtra.
Indo Count has posted sales of Rs 186.18 crore for 2004-05. The company reported a net profit of Rs 4.74 crore. On an equity of Rs 23.5 crore, the EPS works out to Rs 2.02. 
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