Knitwear Fashion College Campus Will Be In June -08
The NIFT-TEA Knitwear Fashion College campus is likely to be inaugurated by mid-June. The institute, the brainchild of the Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), was inaugurated a decade ago with support from the Ministry of SSI and ARI, and ICICI (which had extended an interest-free loan of Rs 1 crore then). It is currently functioning across 12 industrial sheds within the Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex (TEKIC).
To make it a full-fledged campus, the promoters acquired an 18-acre plot between two industrial parks — TEKIC and Tamil Nadu Adidravidar Development Corporation — and commenced construction activities. “The college campus would house an administrative block (including the library and seminar hall), academic block comprising class rooms and laboratory block. The institute building cost is estimated at Rs 7.34 crore. We have until now managed to go ahead with the construction activities with funds mobilised from exporters, dyeing factory owners, spinners and several others.
Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and Indian Bank donated Rs 10 lakh each towards this project. We have appealed to all the banks functioning here to extend support to the institute which is in the evolution process,” its Chairman, Mr Raja M. Shanmugham, told. Mr Shanmugham said there was a problem in getting willing buyers to donate towards this project because of the Foreign Exchange Management Act regulation. He ruled out the possibility of availing a loan to complete the project and said that they had so far managed with donations and hoped that the banks would extend support.
Meanwhile, with the donation from exporters, NIFT-TEA accomplished construction of the two hostel blocks on an outlay of Rs 3.5 crore. Over 1,400 students have over the last 10 years completed the full term course and been placed.
