Qatar interest fuels Kothari Industrial’s Tamil Nadu expansion

CHENNAI:
Kothari Industrial Corporation is seeking to accelerate its expansion in Tamil Nadu with interest from Qatar’s Al Thani family, as the group diversifies beyond footwear into design education, fertilisers, drones, food and consumer goods.

At its 56th annual general meeting in Chennai on Wednesday, executive chairman Jinnah Rafiq Ahmed said Sheikh Jassamal Al Thani had expressed interest in supporting KICL’s next phase of growth. The company did not disclose the size or structure of any proposed investment.

Tamil Nadu is at the centre of its expansion. KICL is developing a 225-acre project in Madurai and evaluating opportunities in Ramanathapuram. Its footwear operations include Phoenix Kothari Park at Padalur and an Adidas facility in Karur. The company is also partnering with Italy’s IUAD to establish a design school in Hosur, with short-term programmes expected from November and degree courses from April 2027.

KICL is reviving its fertiliser business, expanding drones into manufacturing and entering FMCG, a release stated.

TN registers one lakh property documents online

Tamil Nadu has registered more than 100,000 property documents in the 44 days from August 17 to September 30, under the state’s “Presenceless Registration” system, which allows documents to be submitted online around the clock without a physical visit to a registration office.

The system was made mandatory on August 17 for the first sale of plots and flats in apartment projects. From September 15, it was extended to title-deed deposits and receipt deeds involving banks and financial institutions.

The registration department in a release stated it would gradually extend presenceless registration to other categories of documents, with changes to the software being made on the basis of feedback from citizens, developers, banks and other users