Phoenix Kothari Footwear to invest ₹5,000 crore in three leather units in TN in 3 years, to employ over 50,000

Phoenix Kothari Footwear Ltd, a joint venture between Chennai-based Kothari Industrial Corporation Ltd. (KICL) and Taiwan’s Evervan Group, will invest another ₹5,000 crore to set up non-leather factories in Eraiyur and Karur in Tamil Nadu. The company will sign an MoU with Taiwan’s Shoetown on February 26 in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin, said J Rafiq Ahmed, Chairman, Phoenix Kothari Footwear Ltd.

The new investment is in addition to the ₹1,761 crore by JR One Footwear Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Phoenix Kothari Footwear Ltd and Taiwan’s ShoeTown Group, to manufacture Crocs brand of footwear at Perambalur. “We have already manufactured 2 million pairs for the domestic market,” said Ahmed.

Industrial park

“By 2027, our target is to cumulatively manufacture nearly 200 million pairs and employ over 50,000 in the leather units,” he said. “We are also planning to set up an industrial park for footwear in around 400 acres of land in southern Tamil Nadu, where various factories, including for ancillary, will be set up,” he added.

Ahmed, who took over after Pradip Dayanand Kothari stepped down from the post of EC on Tuesday, said the company will import raw materials like gas and ammonia.

Ahmed said the company’s Board will be restructured with Sheikh Falah Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al Thani, of Qatar’s ruling family and an investor in the company with 10 per cent stake, becoming a director. Thani is a key shareholder of Qatar Airways, he said.

When asked about the status of the earlier plan to set up a NPK fertiliser plant in Qatar, Ahmad said it was still on.

KICL is also setting up a drone academy at Madurai. In Telengana, the company’s 20-acre land, where once Fosters Beer factory was functioning, will be put to use for industrial use.