Four new factories started in Jharkhand; state on right track

Once again, Jharkhand is witnessing positive development as four new garment factories of Kishore Exports, The West Band Co., Shree Ganpati Creation and Valencia Apparels, have started production in Ormanjhi (Kulhi) area in the state. The state Chief Minister Hemant Soren inaugurated these units and distributed appointment letters to 2,000 people who got employment. Not only that, just a few days back, Orient Craft also restarted its production here. Is it therefore right to say that Jharkhand is now moving on the right track and slowly garmenting will increase here as most of these units have a plan to increase their capacity?

All the aforementioned four units are situated in Kulhi Textile Industrial hub and for the ease of workers, buses have been provided for transportation. Of the 2,000 people who got employment in total 9 units (including these four), 95 per cent hail from Jharkhand and 80 per cent are women. These women were earlier working in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala before the lockdown. The Chief Minister said the Government will ensure that 10,000 people get employment in the textile sector in the coming six months and all preparations have been made for it.

It is interesting to mention here that two of these four units are quite new in this state as it is their first-ever initiative here. On the other side for Agra-based leading exporter Kishore Exports, it is their third unit in Ranchi and the new unit is operated in two shifts.

Post-Covid, job creation is one of the most important factors, especially as workers of the states have come back and are looking for jobs. Manish Sondhi, Partner Valencia Apparels, and Founder of NIFT Wecare initiative underlines that after Covid, the issue of migratory workers has become a big challenge and various Governments have realised that apparel manufacturing is a major solution for this problem.

And another positive impact for local labour and factories investing here is the expansion possibilities in future. Manish says, “Regular wage increase in old established apparel manufacturing hubs and labour availability in emerging hubs are the important factors motivating to expand in a state like Jharkhand. Local workers are able to save more, feel proud in working and all this matter a lot in terms of productivity also.” Currently the productivity in this state-of-the-art unit is around 50 per cent compared to 65 per cent to 70 per cent of its Noida’s unit.

It is also interesting to mention here that Valencia Apparels is focusing on sustainability and for this various steps are being taken like low liquor machines in washing, spray washing techniques and growth of 200 saplings in the factory premises. Further 300 more saplings are expected to be grown.

Making 2.5 lakh pieces per month in Ranchi only, Deepak Agarwal, MD, Kishor Exports is a firm believer that there are two factors why factories are expanding and investing in Ranchi. “Overall garment industry is moving towards stability and demand is growing; so companies are investing. As far as investment in Ranchi is concerned, it is because the State Government has realised the importance of this industry and is giving due diligence to the same and has assured to take care of the industry in the long-term.”

Ritesh, Partner, The Waist Band Co., says, “When we are investing in a new place, we see for long-term, at least for next 20 years and looking at all the established and emerging hubs, Ranchi seems to be a good option as it has labour-friendly policies, better connectivity being located centrally.”

He adds another interesting point regarding buyers’ point of view on Ranchi. “Now our clients have realised that production in Ranchi can sustain for long-term and they rely on our commitment to supply from Ranchi. In fact they prefer to source from here.” Ritesh also has a plan to double his company’s capacity in next few years in Ranchi.

Another good aspect of the growing garment industry in Ranchi is that few of the factories are now becoming more organised as they now have a big space, systematic way of working. And one of its examples is Ranchi-based Shree Ganpati Creation. The firm was having its unit earlier in the city and now it has a new unit in the industrial area. It will help the company to be more organised and systematic. The company is totally into domestic and is witnessing good demand; so it has expanded and invested in the new unit. Earlier its production capacity was 10,000 pieces per month and the same will be 50,000 per month now. Rohit Poddar, Partner of the company tells Apparel Resources (AR), “We will also expand in next one or two years and will double our capacity.”

The State Government has also extended its existing textile policy for a year. The policy, which was supposed to complete on 19 September 2021, is now extended till 18 September 2022. And in this one year, new policy will be framed.

Orient Craft again starts production

Apart from the booming new units in Ranchi, after a gap of almost 20 months, Orient Craft, once a flag bearer of garmenting in the state, has also started its production again in Ranchi. As of now, production has started in the Hotwar unit and soon the Irba unit will also start producing garments. Pooja Singhal, Secretary-Industries, Jharkhand says that the state is doing its best to push the textile industry so that local youth can get jobs in the state. Almost 5,000 workers had lost their jobs when Orient Craft had closed its operations in Ranchi.

Gaurav Sehgal, CEO of the company tells that production was stopped as there were no orders due to the lockdown; however, production has now started on the initial level and once both units will use their full capacity, around 10,000 workers will get jobs.

Challenges continue 

Besides expansion, challenges also continue in Jharkhand’s garment manufacturing industry. Jharkhand is a land lock state and still, there is no full-fledged ecosystem especially for raw material availability. It is also worth mentioning here that as of now, only Arvind Ltd. has reasonably good scale operation here as the company produces around 4 lakh pieces per month. At the same time it is to be noted that  India’s number one apparel exporter has land here from the last 4 years but it has not started any activity so far.

“As of now the current policy has been extended for one year; we are very much sure that in future, the state will have a long-term and more industry-beneficial policy. As garmenting is growing, it will enhance the overall working environment/ecosystem. All this should motivate other companies also to invest here and hopefully we will see big companies investing and expanding here,” says Deepak.