The Deccan Herald, January 10, 2021
Aequs SEZ Private Ltd is bringing six global toy manufacturers to set up manufacturing units at its upcoming special economic zone for toys at Koppal in north Karnataka. These companies will manufacture electronic and mechanical toys, packing material and components at the upcoming SEZ.
The company on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the SEZ, the first of its kind in India. Aequs and its joint venture partners together will invest Rs 4,000 crore at the toy cluster, spread over 400 acres. It will be operational by end of next fiscal, a top company official said.
“We are signing MoU with six companies from Vietnam, Hong Kong among others. Global toymakers like GFT Group, Playgro and Hasbro as well as packaging firms like Sterling will set up manufacturing units at our SEZ for toys at Koppal,” Aravind Melligeri, chairman & CEO, Aequs Group told DH.
He said while the JV partners will invest Rs 2,500 crore, Aequs Group will invest another Rs 1,500 crore to create basic infrastructure at the SEZ.
Of this, around Rs 700 crore will be invested on creating infrastructure and logistics facilities. The entire SEZ will be developed in phases. Over the next five years, it will create direct jobs for 25,000 persons and indirect jobs for 1 lakh people.
The company will develop a 3 million-sq-feet area with a build-to-suit facility for toymakers. The facility will have a SEZ for exports and domestic tariff area for the domestic market. There will be facilities for manufacturing all kinds of toys, such as design, moulding, painting and packaging, Melligeri said.
Located on National Highway 63, the Koppal toy cluster has access to highway, ports, airports and major cities. It will have a dedicated railway siding, roads and other logistics facilities.
While Aequs will create the required infrastructure for setting up manufacturing units at the SEZ, the state government will provide capital subsidy on plant and machinery, training and logistics.
“We have appealed to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to include toys under the production-linked incentive scheme,” Melligeri said.
He said toys manufactured at the Koppal SEZ will be available in the domestic market ahead of Diwali and before Christmas in the global markets in 2022. Aequs is eyeing a revenue of $450 million from the toy cluster in the next five years.
This article first appeared in The Deccan Herald