As described in the chart India has lowest number of shutteless looms among all competing countries. While competitors like China and Indonesia are far ahead in this modernization. USA and Russia has highest proportion of modern shuttleless looms.

Challenges and Adversities:

The Indian loom industry is small scale unlike industry of China and Taiwan and therefore incurs high co-ordination cost.

Higher power tariff is also one of the biggest challenges this industry is facing. Unlike spinning industry weaving loom sector is mostly concentrated in small areas of nations, where power fluctuation is a matter of routine. Productivity also gets affected time to time by fluctuation in power in such areas.

Through Technology Up-gradation Scheme (TUFS) Government is trying to modernize these sector and make import of latest technology looms easier and affordable. Still India lags behind in productivity due to outdated technology and low penetration of shuttleless looms.

Advance technology installation demand skilled labor to understand and install such facilities, shortage of skill labor is also a roadblock in adaptation of new technology in weaving loom industry.

Technological Developments:

Along with increasing trend of importing new technology shuttleless looms, there is, however, a recent trend of investment in setting up hi-tech, stand-alone mid-size weaving companies focusing on export markets. For example groups like Shanmugavel Group of Dindigul, Tamil Nadu is planning to install 200 new airjet looms and has already placed orders for 30 airjet looms.

TIFAC- (India’s leading institute which focuses on textile machinery upgradation) is partnering with Indian textile manufacturing industry to invent new generation of High-tech weaving looms. Some of the products developed by these joint efforts include a rapier shuttleless loom (4-weft colour), which is developed to suit for Indian condition with M/s. Sree Andal & Co., Komrapalayam. The width of this rapier loom is 72" with speed of 250 rpm.

A project for the development of air-jet and 8-weft colour rapier loom was also taken up with M/s. Industrial Engineering Works. This company with cooperation of SITRA is developing some modern age indigenous looms like Air jet, Rapier and Dobby which can be fit into Indian industrial conditions well.

Conclusion:

The powerloom sector occupies a pivotal position in the Indian textile industry. Though current growth of this sector has been restricted by technological obsolescence, fragmented structure, low productivity and low-end quality products, in future Technology would play a lead role in this sector and will improve quality and productivity levels. Innovations would also be happening in this sector, as many developed countries would be innovating new generation machineries that are likely to have low manual interface and power cost. Indian textile industry should also turn into high technology mode to collect the benefits of scale operations and quality.

To reap benefits of these developments Indian powerloom industry has to prepare itself for drastic technological changes and will have to focus on area such as Technology upgradation: modernization of Power loom Service Centres and testing facilities; Clustering of facilities to achieve optimum levels of production; Welfare schemes for ensuring a healthy and safe working environment for the workers in future.

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