Kochi: Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Handlooms and Textiles, S Savitha, will visit the headquarters of Kitex Garments Ltd at Kizhakkamabalam in Kerala’s Kochi on Saturday. The minister will meet Sabu M Jacob, the chairman and managing director of the company who has shifted a major portion of his business to Telangana after a fallout with the CPM-led LDF government in Kerala. 

Kitex is expecting an invite from the Andhra government to expand its footprint to the state with the minister’s visit. “The visit has been planned as per the instructions of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu,” Sabu told Onmanorama.

He said he has not held any government-level talks with Andhra before.

Andhra has apparently shown interest in the Kerala-based company even as it has been setting up a ₹3,500 crore project in the neighbouring Telangana. Sabu was extended an invite to Telangana in 2021 after he announced he was planning to withdraw from further investments in Kerala, alleging the CPM-led government was harassing his company management in an act of political vendetta. Sabu is the head of the Twenty-20 movement which has made significant strides in Kizhakkambalam and neighbouring local bodies, much to the anger of the rival alliances led by CPM and Congress. 

Sabu came out against the government, especially CPM’s Kunnathunad MLA P V Sreenijin, following repeated inspections of his factories. “We are setting up two garment production units in Telangana, one in Warangal and the other in Hyderabad; each coming up in 250 acres. The Warangal facility has already started functioning since April. The units are designed to produce 22 lakh garment pieces per day. Our Kochi unit is producing 7 lakh units a day,” Sabu told Onmanorama.

The Warangal unit is expected to employ 12,000 people and the recruitment is going on. The Hyderabad facility which is scheduled to be functional by December, 2026 will generate employment for 14,000 people. Kitex’s Kochi unit has 11,000 employees.

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