Be it US or any European nation, they all want to do business in a healthy and democratic environment. In all parameters, India fits the bill. But the fact remains that all these rich countries are doing business more with undemocratic China than with India. The textile industry is a glaring example. Why? Can’t we compete with China or even Bangladesh?
Dwijendra Kumar, an expert in the field, has tried to find an answer through an article on the textile industry in India.
India has got a huge industry catering to the local and export markets for textile and apparel products. Currently, the market is worth approx. 150 billion dollars. We export approx. 40 billion dollars worth of textile and apparel products. The efforts are on to double the size of the market to 300 billion dollars and take the current exports from 40 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars. Of these approx 40 billion dollars, exports of readymade garments constitute approximately 16 billion dollars.
In order to achieve the targets, the Government of India, through its Textile Ministry, has taken a number of initiatives that would surely help. Such measures include production link initiatives, tax rebates, setting up of textile parks, etc. The government has also signed free trade agreements with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Australia, etc. All these would help boost the overall production capacity and export of the related products.
If we look at the job opportunities created in this industry, we would find that in India, maximum people are employed in this industry after agriculture. The healthy growth of textitle industry has largely happened because India is a cotton-growing country suitable for weaving fabrics. Further, when the peasants have spare time, they indulge themselves in weaving textiles. This is the main reason for the presence of a vibrant handloom sector in India.
Despite the presence of raw materials such as cotton, silk, jute etc. and skilled hands, the contribution of the Indian textiles and garments industry to the total export earnings is around 12 percent only. Countries such as China, Bangladesh and Vietnam are way ahead in terms of export of readymade garments. While Chinese textile industry has been greatly benefited by economic reforms and it is the largest manufacturer in the world in the field of textile and garments, Bangladesh and Vietnam are ahead of India because of low manufacturing costs.
What we need to do is to make cotton available to the manufacturers at lesser prices since there are taxes on its import and locally it is available at a higher price.
We must also focus on the readymade garments sector to improve the employment scenario in the country and also boost its exports. The production of Ready-made garments is a labor-intensive industry, so more the manufacturing, more will be the jobs for both skilled and non-skilled professionals. Further, readymade garments are value-added creations, so these fetch good prices in the global market as our production costs remain lower than those manufactured in European countries.
(Dwijendra Kumar has also authored books on career opportunities in garment, textile and fashion field such as 25 Careers in Textile, Garment and Fashion, Fashion Designing as a Career, Fashion Journalism: A Career Guide and Modelling: A Career Guide)