Calico Mills passes into history for Rs270 crore

Calico Mills, once the pride not only of Ahmedabad but also of Gujarat, has been sold. A public auction of Calico Mills' land, plant and machinery was held on Saturday which fetched bids of over Rs270 crore.

Ahmedabad Manufacturing & Calico Printing Mills Company Limited, popularly known as Calico, was one of the city's earliest textile mills. It was established by Sheth Karamchand Premchand in 1880.

Later, under the stewardship of Ambalal Sarabhai, it became one of the most modern and extensively diversified pacesetters in the Indian cotton industry. It was the first Indian textile mill to manufacture cotton sewing thread and later 100% synthetic sewing thread.

Calico's main textile unit was the only textile plant in Ahmedabad to be fuelled by natural gas, and it even had its own primary effluent processing plant. The mill ran into financial troubles in the early 1980s, and later went into liquidation.

The auction of Calico Mills was conducted on Saturday by a liquidator following a directive by the Gujarat High Court. "The assets of Calico Mills were divided into seven lots for the auction," an official said on the condition of anonymity.

"The auction process drew very good response, as more than 120 people bid for Calico's assets. The auction fetched Rs270.83 crore."