Chandanvelly and adjoining Sitarampur near Hyderabad will become Telangana’s largest industrial cluster in future, state Industries and Commerce Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Wednesday.
Tech giant Microsoft, global e-commerce leader Amazon, and leading textile company Kitex Garments are setting up their units in this cluster, where textile major Welspun India Ltd on Wednesday opened its second manufacturing facility.
Microsoft has reportedly acquired 52 acres in Chandanvelly to establish one of the three data centres in Hyderabad. Amazon is also planning to set up a data centre at Chandanvelly.
Kitex Garments, which has already signed MoU with Telangana government to invest Rs 2,406 crore in the state, is setting up one of the two units in this cluster.
Sitarampur will be one of the electric vehicle manufacturing clusters under Telangana Mobility Valley (TMV).
Inaugurating the Welspun facility, Rama Rao recalled that five years ago when Welspun came to Chandanvelly, there was nothing in the area.
He also recalled that Welspun had originally planned to set up the unit at Kutch in Gujarat but when he met Welspun Chairman Balkrishan Goenka and explained to him the strengths of the region and assured full support, the latter dropped the idea of setting up plant in Gujarat and choose Telangana.
He pointed out that Welspun started two units with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore and welcomed Goenka’s announcement that in the next 5-6 years, they will invest another Rs 3,000 to 5,000 crore to develop what he calls Welspun valley.
On this occasion, Welspun Group, a global conglomerate, also announced that it would set up an IT/ITeS center in Chandanvelly.
Mentioning that Welspun is already operating in Ahmedabad and Mumbai in the IT/ TES sector, he said that the company has decided to set up their IT Centre in their industrial premises in Chandanvelly.
KTR, as the Minister is popularly known, thanked Goenka for their decision and hoped that this would strengthen the Telangana government’s goal of expanding IT to tier 2 and 3 cities. With the establishment of Welspun IT Centre, the desire of the local people to have IT companies in their region will also be fulfilled and 1,000-1,200 local youth will get an opportunity to do IT jobs.
With an investment of Rs 500 crore, the advanced textile facility of Welspun Advanced Material India Ltd, inaugurated on Wednesday, is Welspun’s second investment in the same vicinity after setting up a flooring facility valued at Rs 1,500 crores two years ago.
The plant will manufacture Spun-Lace which is used in categories like hygiene applications, family care and products that are used by individuals in their daily lives. The new plant will also support the Group’s new vision of “Har Ghar Se Har Dil Tak Welspun” according to which, the Welspun Group wants to touch the lives of end consumers through the businesses in their portfolio.
Dipali Goenka, Joint MD and CEO, Welspun India said that the new facility will create over 12,000 direct and indirect jobs that will benefit the surrounding communities of Chandanvelly.