India's leading integrated textile manufacturer Arvind Mills plans to partially shift its denim unit overseas, including Bangladesh.
Besides Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Egypt are among the countries the Indian company is looking at for shift of part of its denim capacity.
Bangladesh, however, seems a more favoured destination as it has a large demand for denim -- an estimated 200 million metres per year, sources in the company told The Times of India newspaper.
An added incentive for Arvind Mills to consider is that Bangladesh is also a major apparel manufacturing hub.
Arvind Mills accounts for around 92 percent of India's total denim demand of 120 million metres. It has denim manufacturing units in and around Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat.
Arvind Mills Chief Finance Officer Jayesh Shah told the daily that "we are examining various alternative sites like Egypt, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka but nothing has been concretized yet" and indicated a decision on this could be taken in January.
He said the company's denim units in Ahmedabad are operating at 80-90 percent capacity due to oversupply in denim marker globally.
If the shift is materialised, the smaller denim manufacturing unit producing 20 million tonnes would be relocated in phases and the present unit would continue to make other products like garments, shirting and knits fabrics.
