After dumping Kerala, Kitex Group commits Rs 1000 Cr investment in Telangana

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Friday said the Kerala based Kitex Group would be investing Rs 1000 crore for setting up a facility in Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal.

A delegation from Kitex group, led by its Chairman and Managing Director Sabu M Jacob, met IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao here and discussed setting up a textile manufacturing unit in the State, an official release said.

'In principle, The Kitex Group has agreed upon a Phase- I investment of 1000 crore within a span of two years in the textile industry for the project Textile Apparel in the Kakatiya Mega Textile Park in Warangal.

This investment will generate an employment of 4000 jobs in the State of Telangana,'the release quoted Jacob as saying.

The Minister gave an overview of the progressive industrial policies of Telangana state and availability of required resources for the textiles sector, the release said.

Alleging harassment by the Kerala government officials, Jacob had last week said his group was withdrawing its Rs 3,500 crore project from the State.

Sources in the Telangana government said the Industries Minister and senior officials had asked Jacob to visit the State to know about ease of doing business there.

The Kitex group expressed satisfaction over the state government's industry friendly policies and appreciated the 'quick' decision making attitude on investments in Telangana.

The state government had also arranged a chartered flight to bring the Jacob led team here.

The delegation was taken to the Kakatiya Textile Park in Warangal in a chopper to have a look at the facilities available, the release said.

Earlier in the day, the Kerala government said it has an 'open approach' towards issues raised by Kitex group, even as the company stuck to its decision to back out from Rs 3,500 crore investment plan in the state, with its chairman Sabu Jacob alleging that he was being 'hounded out.' 'The government is still open...issues can be discussed with the investors and take things forward,' Industries Minister P Rajeev told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

He was responding to Jacob's statement that he was not leaving his home state on his own,but was being 'hounded out.' Before leaving for Hyderabad,Jacob alleged in Kochi today that Kerala government authorities did not bother to intervene even after his announcement of withdrawal from the multi-crore investment project from the state.

He reiterated his charge that the atmosphere in Kerala was not conducive for launching business and said no other investor should face such an experience in the state.

The industries minister, however, rejected the charges, saying the state has a conducive atmosphere for launching industries and young investors in various start-ups would tell their better experience with the state government.

Rajeev reiterated that neither the state government nor any of its departments on its own initiated any enquiry into or inspection of Kitex Garments Ltd and all these were a result of complaints to the National Human Rights Commission, Kerala High Court and the authorities against the company.

Kitex Garments Ltd had said it has decided to withdraw from the project signed during the 'Ascend Global Investors Meet' organised by the Kerala government in Thiruvananthapuram in January 2020,alleging that it was difficult for the company to run the existing industrial units in the state.

Jacob had alleged that various units of Kitex were raided 10 times by officials from various departments during the past one month.