NTC revamp: KPMG hired

Coimbatore, Aug. 21 -- State-owned National Textiles Corporation (NTC) has appointed global consulting firm KPMG to chalk out a turnaround plan for the company that has been running losses since 1974, but has been in the news in recent times for selling mill land to raise cash. "KPMG has given us (NTC) a three-point strategy that includes financial and organisationsal restructuring and technological upgradation of our units. The plan is being implemented in stages," chairman and managing director K Ramachandran Pillai told reporters during a visit to the textile town of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Pillai said NTC was expecting to raise Rs 5,000 crore by selling four more mill sites - one each at Coimbatore, Kanpur, Bangalore and Mumbai. It has sold five mill sites in Mumbai for Rs 2,200 crore which it has used to retire debt and reduce its work-force under a voluntary retirement scheme. "We are in no hurry to sell these mills now as we are already flush with funds for our different programmes and would do so only when the real estate market gathers momentum," Pillai said. NTC is on a Rs 1,100-crore modernsation plan. The state run spinning giant has also entered into joint ventures with 11 different private parties to seek new business areas as it plans to emerge as an integrated company covering spinning, weaving and garments. It has a garment venture with Pantaloons, the company that runs the Big Bazaar retail chain.