According to a Coimbatore spinning mill owner, there has been a lot of worry in the business over the last several months about investors leaving Tamil Nadu and the textile sector in other States becoming more competitive. “If there is a flight of investments to other states, we will lose not just investments and capacities, but expertise available in this region of Tamil Nadu,” he declared.
At least two more integrated garment units are considering Bihar, while a few are considering growth or investments in Madhya Pradesh.
According to an industry spokesman in Coimbatore, states like Maharashtra and Gujarat have abundant supply of cotton as a raw material, make textile manufacturing easier by adhering to marine discharge rather than zero liquid discharge, are important fabric clusters, and offer reduced power costs.
Palaniswamy, a Tiruppur-based producer of clothing for the local market, said that several of the district’s major firms were discussing outsourcing orders to less expensive manufacturers in West Bengal or other northern states rather than Tamil Nadu. According to him, businesses are searching for chances in states that provide incentives as a means of reducing their manufacturing costs.
However, he noted that because they are paid at least twice as much as those in their native state, migrant workers engaged in textile and garment industries in Tamil Nadu’s western regions would not want to return.
Tamil Nadu’s textile sector is not competitive due to rising power costs, the need to import raw materials (cotton or synthetic fibre) from other States, and high labour costs. Industry sources suggest that Tamil Nadu should also release a competitive textile policy to boost the sector.
“Approximately thirty percent of Tamil Nadu’s textile units will close in three years if this situation persists,” stated K. Selvaraju, secretary general of the Southern India Mills’ Association.
The Indian Texpreneurs Federation convenor, Prabhu Dhamodharan, asserts that the state government must assist the textile industry in order for it to modernise and remain competitive in these difficult times.
