Dr.Hemant Sonare- Chairman-The Textile Association of India
Textiles and apparel demand from India will set to grow exponentially. There has been a progressive trend in textiles in respect of global competitiveness level from 2 % in 2002 to 5.8% in 2017. With the economy of scale this upward trend will continue in future. India has a huge domestic textile and apparel market. India will certainly become the second largest by 2030. Textile Industry is changing very rapidly with global challenges to meet the requirements. The potential growth of Indian textile and clothing industry lies in an effective vertical integrated value chain structure. The textile supply chain is very diverse in terms of the raw material used, technologies deployed and product produced. There is sustainable value addition at each stage of processing from raw material to delivery of finished product, contributing much at every stage. The industry is highly brand driven as well as acutely segmented and extremely competitive. Industry growth is also dependent on operations like branding, marketing, communications, strategic planning, human resource management & logistic management.
Government of Maharashtra recently launched policy for textile sector desires to provide a fresh stimulus to the textile industry in Maharashtra. The new policy aims at generating 10 lakh new jobs in the next five years and doubling farmers’ income by the year 2022. New textile policy is forward looking and investment friendly, Cotton producing area like Vidarbha, Marathwada & North Maharashtra have given required importance in the policy. New policy will not only fill the gap of policy paralysis but also incorporates some of the very important concerns of textile sector of Vidarbha. Positive bold decisions like creation of Garment Complex at Nagpur & Textile University at Vidarbha will increase importance of Vidarbha in Textile & clothing map of India . This intent is laudable given the fact that although our textile industry is major sector next to agriculture sector ,we do not have a single university dedicated to Textile sector. A big step for filling skill gap for technical operations by creating Textile University at Vidarbha is a welcome move of Maharashtra government. A big void for filling skill gap analysis for technical operations in textiles has also been fulfilled by ideas of creating a complete textile university in Vidarbha. This initiative will help to make Vidarbha new Knowledge Destination of Textile & clothing sector. The opportunities are now knocking the doors of Vidarbha’s textile & clothing industry. In order to boost confidence of cotton growers and local industries to envisage Vidarbha as a future textile and garment hub importance is given at every level. Forward and backward integration can be the key for success to address farmer’s distress of this region Textile Association of India-Vidarbha through annual All India Textile Conferences advocated aggressively to foresee a desired development in Vidarbha at every stage from fibre to fashion and translate the thought process into action to achieve value added growth in Vidarbha. The conferences encouraged value added industry and created positive environment to attract industrial growth with forward and backward integration in all the sectors through effective supply chain management for employment generation, economic development and prosperity of Vidarbha region. It is pertinent to note that many of suggestions recommended through White papers of the TAI’s textile conferences have found place in the policy.
Vidarbha’s cotton and textile industry would be back on the road to glory. The policy offers soaps to industries & focuses on Vidarbha, Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions. The new textile policy would attract investment in the region and create jobs in textile & clothing sector. Vidarbha is the largest cotton-growing regions of India & contributes almost one-thirds of the Maharashtra’s cotton production. Vidarbha’s potential in spinning is recognised and with new textile parks & new investments Vidarbha will be next emerging hub for textiles & clothing. Special emphasis is given in policy document on setting up processing units in the cotton producing sectors, expansion of the textile industry and growth of employment will provide required boost to the industry. Textile development Fund & Plug & Play premises in Vidarbha will boost investment in the garment manufacturing & value added service sector of clothing industries. Incentivisation based on Grading of cotton bales will increase concern for quality in cotton producing community of Vidarbha. Much required Emphasis given on Value addition, skill development, Capital Subsidy. Textile policy of Maharashtra also mentioned that efforts will be made to increase the production of silk cocoons and silk yarn so as to produce more silk than the traditional silk growing states and they intend to rope in private players in sericulture sector. The reason behind this is to provide second source of income to the farmers so that farming as a profession becomes economically viable .Innovative approach to promote Adhyatmik Reshim, skill development through Silk training Centre at Amaravati and marketing efforts by creation of silk tourism circles at Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Chandrapur , tussar Tourisam Corridor will give new growth life to Sericulture industry of Vidarbha ,Handloom cluster in Vidarbha can create creative apparels output like ‘Navarari Sari’ and able to reach lost glory in handloom sector. Development Non- conventional yarn energy, wool, other fibers like bamboo,Bannana,ghypat,ambadi,maize &Coir etc, is welcome move from Government of Maharashtra. The policy lays a special focus on strengthening the knitting, garmenting and hosiery sector, which will create ample employment opportunities for women. This will prove to be an important step forward towards women empowerment and development of women entrepreneurs.
Vidarbha have a potential to become Spinning Capital of India. New cooperative spinning mills in Vidarbha will be given equity support as per the existing financial pattern will further strengthen corporate sector of Vidarbha. The new policy and clarity on Good and Service tax GST refund under the new policy has come as a shot in the arm for the State textile operations since last six months
both these policies are kept in limbo resulting into paucity of new investment in textile sector. The policy has been designed with focus on reducing regional imbalance of the State by giving additional 20 percent for weak areas and 10 % for all remaining textile segments capital subsidy benefit by promoting textile operations like knitting, processing, technical textiles, garments to encourage entrepreneurs to initiate value added development of the region. Decision to reduce the number of instalments from earlier period of 7 equal instalments to 3 years which will help to solve fund related issues for budding entrepreneurs who wish to start new unit. This is very much required step in avoiding many new investments turning into non performing assets as most of the new units need the financial assistance and availability of fund only in their initial period of set up still they stabilize their operation. Decision like open access to textile companies on priority basis with no cross subsidy surcharge, Power cost reduction to all textile segments The subsidized power tariff to power looms and knitting units as well as garmenting units as well as incentives based on Green energy will certainly reduce cost of production in Vidarbha.Bold declaration will certainly create atmosphere for growth & boost investment in the Textile & clothing sector at Vidarbha. Government’s positive move & support with entrepreneurs approach to adopt innovative products, practices and processes will certainly address farmer’s distress of this region & set growth roadmap for Vidarbha to be emerging textile & clothing hub of the country.
Advantage Vidarbha :
• Vidarbha being a central location of India offers logistical advantage and most economically viable location because of connectivity.
• Vidarbha is a strategic location with quality land, irrigation facilities, connectivity and resource availability.
• Strategic place on international aviation routes, MIHAN (Multimodal International Hub Airport) will increase Vidarbha’s importance as a logistic hub on global map.
• Well connected by rail, road and air to all parts of India
• India’s fastest growing cosmopolitan city with highest per capita income
• Abundant availability of raw material
• Presence of prominent textile players for many years
• Availability of skilled labour
• Presence of technical institutes & skill development institutions in and around the vicinity
• Being cotton rich region there is huge investment potential within the region through appropriate value addition at each level. The region has tremendous potential for all round value added growth.
• Organic cotton & technical textiles are providing new growth area to the region
• Apparel manufacturing has huge potential in the region which is still untapped.
The problem faced by Vidarbha cotton and textile industry could be successfully solved the journey from cotton to clothes was seen as an integrated whole. The minimum price of cotton was to be determined at the State level rather than at the Centre, it would lead to more realistic evaluation of the price of production of cotton. Cotton can play an important role to develop Vidarbha, People needed to change their mindset and think of ways to develop cotton industry in VIDARBHA. Farmers needed to fight poverty and unemployment by using new technology. They could start by setting up ginning and pressing units in Villages. With the use of technology value addition to cotton products could generate demand and increase income of farmers also adapting new techniques of farming the yield per acreage and equity of cotton could be increased. The policy announced is a very forward looking step and would bring in large scale investments in textiles in the region of Vidarbha and is expected to create more than 1 lakh jobs. It will also solve problems of low cotton prices in another 5 years there by giving a lot of relief to cotton growing farmers. It is important to note that cotton growing farmers in the region have been reeling under pressure because of low pricing of the commodity which is considered as one of the major reasons for farmer’s suicide in Vidarbha.
The potential growth of Vidarbha’s textile and clothing industry lies in an effective vertical integrated value chain structure. Connectivity between design, research and innovation is required to achieve success in global market. This is the time for Vidarbha’s Textile & Apparel Companies significantly adopt export oriented culture and quality conscious approach to make strong impression in the global market. There is firing of ambitions in terms of globalization & there is quantum change in the scale of ambitions of India’s business leader and entrepreneurs. THINK GLOBALLY & ACT LOCALLY ‘will be the mantra for future of textile & clothing industry.
