Chennai: Chief minister C Joseph Vijay, on Friday, will lay the foundation stone for setting up a new factory to manufacture the global footwear brand Adidas at Karur in central Tamil Nadu. Established at an investment of ₹1,700 crore, the facility will generate employment opportunities for 13,500 persons.This will be the first industry-related event that Vijay will attend outside Chennai since assuming office as chief minister in May, coming at a time when the state government is stepping up efforts to attract large industrial investments through a series of MoUs.Evervan Kothari Global Footwear, a unit of Phoenix Kothari Footwear, will establish the plant that will be spread over one million sq ft. Its total capacity will be 40 million pairs of shoes per annum. “The first phase of the facility will be ready in six months.We are aiming to commission all the phases over the next three years,” Phoenix Kothari Footwear chairman J Rafiq Ahmed told TOI. The products manufactured in the Karur factory are meant for both domestic and global markets.Phoenix Kothari Infrastructure Development (PKID), a subsidiary of Phoenix Kothari Group, will be engaged in developing the factory. According to Ahmed, PKID will be constructing the facility to international standards. “We gained experience through the construction of the JR One Kothari Footwear factory at Perambalur, which led to floating PKID. Now, this company will also be engaged in developing all our state-of-the-art future projects, including footwear parks,” he added.
