Highlighting the shortcomings in terms of quality of the fabrics produced by the local, weaving and processing industries, Dr Arindam Basu and K Balasubramaniyan exhort the industries to equip themselves to face the challenges from their overseas counterparts.

The Indian garment industry is very vital to the economy of the country. The industry contributes 6% to the GDP of the country and earns 12% of its foreign exchange. The Indian garment industry is directly dependent on the weaving and processing sectors for its raw material. As the Indian weaving and processing sectors have not geared up to the mark, the garment industry has to depend on the imported raw material for its requirements.

A study was initiated last year in order to identify the difference between imported and indigenous fabrics used by the garment industry. The findings of the study can help in improving the processes followed by the Indian manufacturers. The major garment clusters like Chennai, Bangaluru, Tirupur and Coimbatore have been covered under this study. A survey was conducted by including about 100 units from the above clusters and fabric samples were also collected from them. The fabric samples that were collected were analysed at SITRA.

Import and export of fabrics

The improvement in garment exports has forced many exporters to import their raw material, i.e., fabric. Tables I & 2 show the extent of India's imports from various countries during the last 3 years. There has been a significant increase in the import of fabrics in the last 3 to 4 years, though the fact remains that the extent of exports is far higher than the imports. The import of cotton fabrics have increased from 21.5 million sq m during 2003 - 04 to 81 million sq m during 2005 - 06 from the Peoples Republic of China, i.e., an increase by 3 times in 2 - 3 years. Similarly, import of cotton fabrics from Pakistan has increased by 8 times in last 2 - 3 years. Similar trends can be seen in the case of fabrics made of man-made fibres (Table 2).

Table 3 shows the import figures of shirting and suiting fabrics compared for the years 2004 - 2005 and 2005 - 2006. It can be seen that in most of the cases there is a significant increase during the year 2005 2006.

In India, a major portion of fabrics is being produced in the decentralised sector. Chart I shows the proportion of fabrics produced by different industries. It may be seen that the organised sector, which can deliver high quality fabrics, contributes hardly 3% of country's fabric every year.

Many of the units in the organised sector either have their own garment fabrics or have a long-term understanding with international garment manufacturers. Hence, a good number of garment companies have to depend on either powerloom woven fabrics or imported fabrics.

Chart 2 shows the fibre-wise cloth production in India over the years. It may be seen that quite consistently around 50% of fabrics produced in India are made of 100% cotton and around 38% are non-cotton.

Tables 4 & 5 provide details of India's fabric exports. It may be seen that the export of Indian fabrics (both cotton and man-made fibres) during the period 2003 - 2006 either remained stagnant or decreased.