The textile industry of Ludhiana recently called for innovation in its textile sector at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and ITMA (International Textile Machinery Association).
With the event centered around the challenges and opportunities in the textile sector of Ludhiana, the reasons cited for the urgent need for reinvention included insufficient government support, red tapism, and the competition posed by global competitors. Speaking on the same, Jagbir Singh Sokhi, president of the Ludhiana Sewing Machine Technology Park Association, expressed that how Punjab was once the leader in the production of sewing machines but now faces stiff competition from Chinese brands like Zach, which have control over 75 per cent of the Indian market share.
The lack of innovation was also what Suraj Dhawan of ITMA stressed about and recommended coming up with hackathons to foster and crowdsource fresh ideas to drive innovations.
While innovation was one of the main themes of the event, the other problem areas like lack of women workers in the textile industry of Ludhiana and environmental compliance costs were also raised.
Speaking about women workers, Vinod Thapar, chairman of the Knitwear Club, talked about the challenges faced in attracting women to the workforce. The survey done by the Knitwear Club together with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation), a couple of years ago, highlighted that countries like China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, boast a high number of women workers in the hosiery sector but how hosiery-hub cities like Ludhiana in India, have as less as 10 per cent of women working in this sector. Thapar also mentioned how the lack of women workers leaves a 40 per cent vacuum in workforce potential and he also addressed issues, including the lack of facilities and infrastructure for women in the workplaces.
Apart from a lack of women workers, the environmental compliance cost and poor support were also among the prime concerns. One of the industry leaders, Rajesh Bansal talked about the lack of subsidies for effluent treatment equipment and also revealed the slower growth in fabric manufacturing due to poor support.
However, Chandrika Chatterjee, secretary of CITI, emphasised that amidst a lack of innovation and environmental concerns, the textile industry is still headed towards positive growth. She expressed optimism about the PM MITRA scheme and the free-trade agreement between India and the UK. She said that the Indo-UK textile trade presently stands at $10 billion and also expressed that India has a real potential in coming out as the textile leader, as the countries are looking for more avenues apart from China and Bangladesh.
While Sidharth Khanna, chairman of NITMA (Northern India Textile Mills’ Association) talked about the need for partnership between the government bodies and the private sector to surpass barriers, including exports and technology gaps.
