The Hindu Business Line : Portuguese shoe co Calsea sets up facility in TN

Gruppo Investor, a Portuguese holding company with interests in shoe and shoe components manufacturing, has set up a 100 per cent subsidiary for making shoes for the export market.

The subsidiary, Calsea Footwear, has set up a factory near Kaveripakkam, Vellore district, about 80 km west of Chennai. The district is a manufacturing hub for leather, footwear and leather products. The company is looking at Tamil Nadu as a base for shoe manufacturing to cater to the US, Europe, South Africa and the Gulf markets.

Other companies that are part of Gruppo are looking at shoe components production in partnership with local players. Mr Prasadh Parulekar, a co-ordinator for Gruppo's operations here, said that the subsidiary, CalseaFootwear Pvt Ltd, has a capacity to manufacture over 4,500 pairs of shoes a day. Trial production has commenced and commercial production is expected to start in October when the facility will employ over 350 workers from the local area.

To go for local components

Talking to a group of journalists who were on a tour organised by the Council for Leather Exports, he said that the added benefit to the industries in the region is that Calsea will source all the components, shoe uppers and leather from the units in the area. Mr S. Chandra Sekar, Chief Executive Officer, Calsea, said the facility is the first of Gruppo's outside Portugal to manufacture comfort shoes using `stitch and turn' technology. This means that no tacks will be used in putting the shoes together.

Gruppo has five factories in Portugal and one in Romania apart from the facility here. It manufactures over 20,000 pairs of shoes a day. The Portuguese company's presence in India is in line with the interest shown by other European and US companies which are looking to alternatives to China as a production facility. With China facing anti-dumping duties by Europe and, the industry expects, soon the US, the companies are looking at India. Mr Parulekar said that apart from its own brands Gruppo also caters to leading US and Europe brands.

Gruppo is also getting into other independent projects in partnership with local entrepreneurs for producing shoe components. Another company within Gruppo's fold, Ilpe Asia Pvt Ltd in which Mr Parulekar is the Commercial Head, is looking for partners for setting up a unit to produce soles. The plan is to manufacture Thermo PlasticRubber (TPR), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PU) soles.

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