The management of National Textile Corporation (NTC) has decided to reopen mills in a phased manner.
An official told The Hindu on Friday the mills had ceased production when the nationwide lockdown was announced in March to control the spread of COVID-19.
However, the 23 NTC mills in India had stocks of both raw materials and finished products. The market was also weak in the initial months when the lockdown restrictions were relaxed.
The demand began picking up in September-October and the mills were able to start clearing yarn stocks. The market outlook was good now. “The Textiles Minister has been monitoring the situation and it was decided to reopen six mills initially,” the official said.
These are three mills in Tamil Nadu and one each in Kerala, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. These account for almost 40% of NTC’s total production. The mills would resume production using the raw material stocks available, sell the products and generate cash.
The situation would be reviewed in a month and more mills would be reopened. Five or six more mills had the potential to operate and generate cash. The aim was to have 10-12 mills running by next March.
Dues cleared
The NTC had paid salaries till November to all the workers and cleared dues to vendors till January, the official said. The NTC had decided to reopen the mills in phases following cash constraints.
The mills were selected for operation based on cash profitability, according to the official.
