Ever since the formation of NDA Government in May 2014, the National Textile Corporation (NTC) has made significant progress. After being under the purview of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for 22 years, the NTC emerged out its clutches in October 2014, having declared a positive net worth of Rs 1,602 crore as on March 31, 2014. The Textile Undertaking (Nationalization) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2014 was passed by Parliament in December 2014, thereby protecting the leasehold properties of 960.85 acres valued at Rs 5,825 crore vested with NTC. Also 3 new Green Field projects were set up by the NTC, and 20 mills were partially modernized. 12 mills are now in profit as on March 2015, as against 6 in March 2014. The turnover of Rs 1,214 crore in 2014 – 2015 clocked an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. India Empire’s Editor Sayantan Chakravarty spoke to NTC’s Chairman and Managing Director Mr P.C. Vaish who took charge of this promising PSU in March 2015

There is much interest in the modernization story of NTC, and now that you have taken over as CMD, one of your prime focus areas would be modernization. Please talk us through this...

National Textile Corporation was basically implementing the schemes that had been sanctioned by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. The scheme was originally sanctioned in 2002, revisited in 2006, and once more revisited in 2008. The implementation of the scheme was extended till 2012. The process included shifting and reestablishing of three new mills, expansion of capacity at five locations, and essential filling the gap by the way of putting additional machinery, or modernizing, or replacing the machinery so as to reach certain levels of utilization. That has been completed. Now, it is a stage that NTC should think forward having completed what was originally planned. We have recently gone to the Board. We have put up a proposal for further modernization, capacity expansion, consolidation and integration. For example there are certain mills which are perennially loss making due to their location. We want to consolidate them and put up an integrated textile company. And if we are only manufacturing cloth then we add processing, value addition by way of bleaching, dyeing including yarn dyeing, and then we go into the finished products as well. So the margins that are there in the value chain, that is from spinning of cotton to the finished products, matches the vision of the Government. Also Honourable PM talks about 5 Fs. These are farmer, fibre, fabric, fashion and foreign exchange. We are at the fibre and fabric stage. We want to add the balance components so that we become an integrated textile company and can proudly say that we are meeting the requirements of the country. Now, our board considered the proposal. They have initially agreed to Phase 1, which would entail almost Rs 900 crore for modernization.