Growing consumerism and rising purchasing power has led industry experts to predict that by 2010, India's share in the world textile market would be a healthy 10 percent.
However, the good news ended here. For, the Summit also threw up some alarming comparisons drawn between India and other textile producing giants, especially China. Let's state them without mincing words. Read on:
In China, the cost of manufacturing a garment is 2 cents whereas in India, it is 8 cents.
A unit of electricity in China costs Rs2 or less. In India, however, it costs anything between Rs4-Rs5 and there is much to be desired in terms of quality.
A worker in India works for around 53 hours in a week. As against this, a Chinese worker slogs for 70 hours.
Production in China per machine is 23 shirts whereas in India it is just 10 shirts.
One can set up a plant in China at 65 percent of Indian costs.
The cost of manufacturing a garment in France is 10 euros, in Turkey it is 8 euros, in India 5 euros. However, it takes just 4 euros in China to manufacture one shirt.
World market currently stands 60-40 in favour of man-made fibres while in India the ratio is vice-versa.
Apart from these disquieting facts, Texsummit2007 also pointed various loopholes and areas in which the textile industry needs to improve its performance.
To begin with, textile sector is facing high input cost and tough competition. Lack of skilled manpower and absence of proper labour law reforms compounds the situation.
marketing@alchempro.com
