Out of Bombay

The location will no longer be synonymous with its name. The Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company Limited headed by Nusli Wadia is moving – from Bombay to Ranjangaon on the Poona-Ahmednagar highway. It marks the end of an era for a company that was among the kings of cotton in the once textile town of Bombay.

It was in 1879, when Bombay was next only to New Orleans as the world’s largest cotton port, that Now­rosjee Wadia had set up in a single brick shed a small textile venture. Cotton yarn spun in India was dip dyed by hand in only three colors — turkey red, green and orange — and laid out in the sun to dry. Spring Mills was born in 1903. Bombay Dyeing has long been renowned for its premium products – long-lasting bedsheets, towels, shirtings, suitings, etc which were staples in many a middle class family.

Nusli Wadia: moving with the times

In the early 1980s, a crippling strike led by union leader Datta Samant laid low the looms in the textile precincts of Parel and Dadar. The intransigence of labor and the pulls and pressures of politics ensured that mill hooters signaling shifts remained silent, chimneys did not spew smoke. The lure of lucre locked into the hundreds of acres of prime real estate saw battles ensue in court between builders, environmentalists, state and municipal authorities.

Bombay Dyeing’s relocation to Ranjangaon will reportedly unlock two-and-a-half million square feet of residential property development, a shopping mall and five-star hotel. The Spring Mills in Dadar is said to cover 55 acres and is believed to be the biggest mill property in the island city.

Reporting on the shift, the Hindustan Times of September 8, 2006 states that Bombay Dyeing’s Worli mills is slated to see the development of a designer studio and a hub for international apparel brands. Part of the old administrative building and a spanking new commercial block in the Worli mills have already been rented to corporate groups like Tata Sky (the new direct-to-home television venture of the Tata Group). Much of the manufacturing capacity of Spring Mills has been shifted and the last surviving Bombay Dyeing bastion – the processing unit – will move soon following the final settlement with the union, the paper adds. The Wadia group is itself into property development, among its varied businesses.

In Ranjangaon’s industrial area, Bombay Dyeing will find itself in good company as industry incentives have seen multinationals like Whirlpool and Fiat ensconced there.

The state of the art greenfield procesing unit being developed at Ranjangaon is expected to improve export competitiveness and involves an investment of 189 crore rupees, states the company’s annual report for 2005-2006.