India's leading vertical knitwear producer Oswal Woollen Mills is investing Rs 60-crore (US$ 13.5 million) in a wind power venture in the country's Tamil Nadu and Karnataka regions. Oswal, which owns the knitwear ‘superbrands' Monte Carlo and Canterbury, has already signed up to a Rs 350 crore (US$ 78 million) solar energy project which goes on stream in December this year.

''The company has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of India for this 10 mega watt (mw) project,'' Executive Director of Oswal Woollen Mills Sandeep Jain told the Times of India today.

Mr Jain added that the company had been allotted two and three acres of land in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka respectively and while the government had procured the land, the transfer deed would  be signed within the next month.

The 5 megawatt project is expected to be functional from September 2011, with a second phase 5 megawatts starting in March 2012. ''The cost of 5mw project is Rs 30 crore,'' Jain told the newspaper.

Solar energy

"Recently the National Thermal Power Corporation and Vidyut Nigam Limited called for tenders for setting up solar energy power plants under the Jawaharlal Nehru solar mission. After being selected as the only company from the Punjab, Oswal Woollen Mills signed a MoU with the government for a 25mw solar power project worth Rs 350 crore (US$ 78 million)," the report said.

Talking about the project, Sandeep Jain said the 5 megawatt venture would go functional in December, followed by another 5 megawatt in June 2012 and the remaining 15mw in 2013.

Oswal Woollen Mills Ltd. is the flagship company of the Nahar Group, an industrial conglomerate with a diversified portfolio that includes spinning, knitting, and fabric processing, knitted garments and knitwear.

According to a statement on the company website, Oswal Woollen Mills has recently become first domestic company in India to receive the prestigious ISO 9001-2000 certification in the designing, knitwear, manufacturing and supplying category.

Source: The Times of India