‘India has skill issues in textile industry’

*There are opportunities for India’s higher growth as China recedes in prowess,as retail is expected to grow and denim is expected to stay in fashion for the foreseeable future.

*There are those in the Indian denim industry who see the slight decline in China’s cotton production (cotton being a major part of the denim manufacturing process) as an optimistic trend.

There has been an imbalance in supply and demand. When cotton prices were low,Chinese farmers switched to cereals and started planting less cotton where recession was in full force. Two things happened: one,they switched over to other crops and the other is that the textile economy starts to pick up. And the textile pipeline is restocking,which means units are ordering more,pressure built up on cotton supplies. Since demand increased,prices rose again. So the high prices of cotton will encourage farmers to switch over to cotton again in the next planting season.

In the long term,this could pose a problem because if the textile industry keeps growing and demands more cotton,yields can increase,but only to an extent. So I would expect growth in the future to come from man-made fibres like polyester and rayon. There could be some increase as well in bio-polymers.

*Which countries have the capacity to produce these man-made textiles?

Production of bio-polymers is very much taking place in the US and I would expect the technology to transfer to countries like Brazil,for example,which has been alreday experimenting with bio-fuels.

China is the largest polyester producer and still growing. India is a very big producer of rayon,which is sustainable since it comes from trees.

*What about the labour side of textiles in India?

Indian wage rates are still very competitive. They’re not the lowest. I think the growth in the Indian textile industry is going to be as fast as you see in other countries like Vietnam and China.

If there is no growth,there would be no massve increase in jobs. I would expect India to import more hi-tech machines,but that would increase production with fewer jobs. So I think there are certainly manpower and skill issues in India that need to be addressed. There are skill shortages,certainly.

*Would you agree with denim being the “new face of Indian Textile and Apparel Industry”,as the current conferenc is claiming?

Denim industry is certainly expanding in India,which has a lot of expertise in fabric production but that doesn’t make it special because so has Turkey,so has Mexico and so has China. So there are many countries that has strong fabric industries.

I am not optimistic as far as garments are concerned because those will go to countries with cheaper wages,Bangladesh being an example. So I think India’s growth in garments would be limited,but it will become better in fabrics. It probably needs to invest more in spinning and weaving machines.

*Do you think India will become a large enough market for denim products?

I think it will as more and more young women diversify their wardrobes from just traditional outfits. As fashion advances,more and more people would opt for denim garments. Indian manufacturers would grow at the domestic market rather than exports.