The spinning industry continues to bring cheer to the otherwise gloomy industrial scenario in the district.
With cotton produced in 65,000 hectares in the district, spinning and ginning industries have always fetched good returns.
The combined production of all spinning mills is 15.74 lakh spindles during 2015-2016.
But the much-hyped agro-based food processing industries have not really taken off.
ITC Limited remains the biggest player, and it will shortly launch its country agri-business division in Guntur. Of the combined annual turnover of Rs.11,540 crore of large and mega projects during 2015-2106, spinning mills accounted for Rs.6,500 crore, followed by cement plants (Rs.2,080 crore). Guntur Spinning Mills Private Limited was established this year in Nadendla mandal with an investment of Rs. 35.12 crore. Jyothirmayee Textiles too was established in Nadedla mandal this year with an investment of Rs. 45.50 crore and Patchala Spintex (P) Ltd was expanded with an investment of Rs.30 crore.
Out of the top 10 important industries established during 2015-16, nine are spinning/textile industries with a combined investment of Rs.14,500 crore.
“Availability of raw cotton, skilled manpower, and incentives in the form of power subsidies, besides ease at which proposals are processed, are some of the factors responsible for the investments,” said Deputy Director, District Industries Centre, Y. Ajay Kumar.
The year 2012-13 had been bad for the ginning industry, which reeled under prolonged power-cut and went into recession.
Soon after the new government came to power in 2014, the industries had been promised 24x7 power, and the industrial scenario began to look up. In 2015, the government came up with the single-desk policy and made the entire process of applying and processing online in 7-21 days.
Under the ‘Udyog Aadhaar’ memorandum, even the incentives were being provided online.
MSME units hit
However, there is little to cheer about for the MSME units. Prohibitive land costs and CRDA green zone regulations have impacted them.
After the spinning industry, the cement units are the biggest revenue earners.
Four large cement manufacturing units, with a combined investment of Rs.3,000 crore, are in the pipeline.
