Dr. S. Sudalaimuthu Lecturer Department of Commerce Bharathiar University Coimbatore- 641046 Sm_vcas@yahoo.com

P.SenthilKumar M.Phil Scholar Department of Commerce Bharathiar University Coimbatore- 641046 senspv@gmail.com

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Introduction

The woollen textile and clothing industry is relatively small compared to the cotton and man made fibre based textiles and clothing industry, yet the woollen sector plays an important role by linking the rural economy with the manufacturing industry, represented by small, medium & large scale units. The product portfolio is equally divergent from textile intermediates to finished textiles, garments, knitwear, blankets, carpets, etc. with small presence in technical textiles. This industry caters to civil and defense requirements for warmer clothing. India is the 7th largest producer of raw wool in the world accounting for 1.8 % of the world production with about 4.2 % of the total sheep population. The woollen textiles industry is located in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh., Maharashtra and Gujarat. A few of the larger units are located in Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat and West Bengal. Around 40% of the woollen units are located in Punjab, 27% in Haryana, 10% in Rajasthan, while the rest of the States account for the remaining 23% of the units.

(The woollen textiles industry broadly falls under two Sectors:

I) Organized Sector

1. Composite Mills
2. Combing Units
3. Worsted and Non-Worsted Spinning Units,
4. Knitwear and Woven Garment Units. Machine
Made Carpet Manufacturing Units.

(II) Decentralized Sector

1. Hosiery and Knitting Units
2. Power looms Units
3. Hand Knotted Carpets, Druggets, and Namdahs units
4. Independent Dyeing and Process Houses.

There are about 718 woollen units in organized sector and a large number of units in Small Scale sector. Ludhiana alone accounts for 225-240 units in the decentralized hosiery and shawl sector. The installed capacity of the industry is about 6.04 lakh worsted Spindles, and 4.37 non-worsted spindles. Wool combing capacity is around 30 million kg. Whereas synthetic fiber combing capacity is 3.57 million kg. There are approximately 7228 power looms in this industry.

Status of Employment in the Sector

The industry has the potential to generate employment in far-flung and diverse regions and, at present, provides employment in the organized wool sector to about 12 lakh persons, with an additional 12 lakh persons associated in the sheep rearing and farming sector. Further, there are 3.2 lakh weavers in the carpet sector. In aggregate, the total employment is about 27 lakh people.