JOIN USKarle Group, a four-decade old company with presence in the garment industry, has diversified into areas like infrastructure and property development and pharma. Sudarshan Karle, Group Executive Board Member, Karle Group explains to N V Vijayakumar of DH, how the company plans to further strengthen its presence with focus on infrastructure. Edited excerpts:
How has been Karle's journey over the last four decades?
Karle Group started its journey in the 70s with a focus on the textile industry. Karle International started garment manufacturing unit in Karnataka using pedal machine. Our first export was to some of the leading brands in France and the UK. In the 80s, we started focusing on industrial engineering (assembly line and powered machine) that resulted in higher efficiency and standardisation of quality.
In the 2000s, Bangladesh was a direct competitor to India for garment exports and we began exploring possibilities to mitigate competition and formulated a strategy of setting up manufacturing units in Africa. Post due diligence, we zeroed down on Ethiopia. Currently, we are operating three units in India and one in Ethiopia.
How do you view the diversification of the group from the garment industry to pharmaceuticals?
As part of our diversification programme, we started Karle Properties in 1995, Cymbio Pharma in 1998, and Karle Infra in 2005. We saw potential in phytochemical extracts as a sustainable business line and hence acquired an unprofitable firm, started by a group of NRI scientists and revamped the complete business and the product line.
Today, Cymbio Pharma is a multi-faceted, full extraction resource for the nutraceutical and cosmeceutical industries. The major emphasis has been on the manufacturing and exporting of phytochemicals. Cymbio Pharma has a British Retail Consortium (BRC) approved manufacturing facility that enables the company to manufacture and export to Europe and the USA. Further adding to our product line, Cymbio will be launching its own skin and hair care products under the natural category. In addition to this, we have already forayed into clean energy production by piloting work on a 20 MW solar power generation facility.
What is your vision for Karle Infra?
It is an infrastructure development company that is on the lookout for creating and implementing sustainable solutions to meet India's rapid urbanisation. When we talk about infrastructure, we generally refer to roads, airports, water supply, power supply, etc. But, for us, housing and office also comes under infrastructure development. We are currently developing a 72-acre community-centric, township in North Bengaluru 'Karle Town Centre' which consists of 2.2 million sq feet of residential, 4.3 million sq feet of SEZ with offices, 2 million sq feet of retail, entertainment, leisure, hospitality and close to 1 million sq feet of commercial office space. Being scalable in nature, we aim to replicate this model in other cities and upcoming B-grade towns in India. Affordable housing in the suburban centres of existing cities is our focus area.
What are your plans for the infrastructure development in Bengaluru?
We are developing 'Karle Town Centre' spread over 9 million sq feet across 70 acres of land in the northern quadrant of Bengaluru along the gateway to the new international airport. As more and more people and businesses gravitate towards the airport, they look for integrated townships and modern social centres which significantly reduce their commute, alleviate stress, promote social interactions, increase happiness quotient and thereby provide ample work-life balance. Curating this experience is the tenacious product-mix carefully put together at 'Karle Town Centre'.
What are the salient features of this project?
The project comprises of 5 million sq feet of offices, 2.2 million sq feet of residences and the rest being retail, leisure and entertainment. While emphasising on the social aspect of integrated sustainable urban centres, which is key to Karle Town Centre's success. We have earmarked 2 million sq feet across 18 acres within 'Karle Town Centre' and developing it as a cultural destination spun around entertainment, retail and culinary offerings within an open-air setting. Complimenting this would be the 150 Key 5-star hotel, a 100 key 3-Star Hotel, art galleries, edutainment zones, banquet spaces. Pivotal among these being the 1,200-seater performance theatre which eventually makes the Centre, the cultural capital of Bengaluru.
What is the business proposition of Karle Properties?
Currently, there is a demand supply gap in the affordable housing segment and demand is further expected to go up due to rapid urbanisation. We are in the process of developing unique models to address this gap. Through affordable housing, we also want to bridge a connect between our business line and society providing quality homes at an affordable price for the neo-urban crowd.