Continuing with its good show, in the last nine months of the ongoing financial year till December, the 102-year-old Karnataka Silk Industries?Corporation Limited (KSIC) has touched a turnover of Rs 98 crore, generating Rs 8 crore more compared with the corresponding period last year.
In the previous fiscal, the gross turnover was Rs 127 crore, making a net profit of Rs 16.68 crore, newly-appointed Chairman D?Basavaraj told media persons, here, on Wednesday.
Addressing media, during his maiden visit to the factory on Manandavadi Road in the city,?Basavaraj said, KSIC has been consistently making profits ever since it was revived with the timely infusion of funds by the then deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah (now chief minister) in 2004.
In the year 2003, the only silk making industry in the State was in a crisis, on the verge of closure. Siddaramaiah, who was also holding the finance portfolio, granted Rs 14 crore — helping its revival. Recently too, another Rs 6 crore was allocated in the State budget.
Increasing demand
Basavaraj said, though the basic price of Mysore Silk sarees start from Rs 12,000, touching Rs 2.5 lakh, there is no dearth for takers.
There is equal demand for the sarees at exhibitions organised during festive seasons.A revenue of Rs 2.5 crore was generated in a five-day exhibition held at Malleswaram, in?Bengaluru, recently.
New recruitment
In the recently-held board meeting, KSIC has decided to recruit 50 to 100 technical and skilled staff on a permanent basis. New recruitments will be made to fill the vacancies that will be created in the next few years, following the retirement of most of its employees. At present, there are 650 permanent employees and 250 outsourced employees.
Rich history
The silk factory was started in the year 1912 by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore, with the intention of addressing the needs of the royal family. To augment the production, with improvement in quality, a machine was brought from Switzerland in 1929. The factory was later taken over by the government and functioned as a government enterprise, till it was converted into a corporation in 1980.