LOSING THE THREAD

INDIA’S APPAREL EXPORT SECTOR CONSISTS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES THAT LACK PRICING POWER, ACCESS TO CHEAP CREDIT AND TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWHOW

Once dubbed ‘Manchester of the East’, the textile town of Bhiwandi in Thane district, 40 km north of Mumbai, is today reeling under competition from the 25-30 per cent cheaper Chinese fabric. Ask Sharadram Sejpal, 58, a powerloom owner here and spokesperson of the Bhiwandi Powerloom Association, why they can’t match Chinese pricing and he says: “Electricity is costlier here and taxes are high.” Ironically, 90 per cent of the powerlooms in India are cheap imports from China.

Over and above the cheap looms that sustain small loom owners such as Sejpal, India is dependent on China right across the entire textile value chain, starting with raw materials for textile production, the synthetic yarn, the fabric and even the final product, be it garments or home textiles. China is India’s fourth largest trading partner in purified terephthalic acid (PTA), which goes into making polyester fabric, and the largest