This is a common sight. In a dimly lit, dingy room of a greyfabric weaving unit in Icchalkaranji in South or Bhilwara in North, you mayfind about a dozen of tired looking, young and old designers are working onsome worn out desktop computers, experimenting with different combinations ofwarp, weft and weaves to generate hundreds of dazzling graphics on the screens.They have to take the colour printouts with all technical detail and submit forapproval by the owner before the day is over. The fabrics, after weaving, wouldlook very bland, grey and humble. The real mystery would lie in the cleverpositioning of the cotton and polyester yarn in a harmonious rhythm, followedby the programme. Once a piece is cross dyed, that is, the polyester and cottonparts are dyed one by one; the fabric will come to life with a beautifulcombination of two colours. In the next few days, the looms of the unit wouldbe booked by the domestic customers who would get the grey fabric dyed andmarket all over the country.


There are many such instances of product developmentsregularly practiced by the Unorganized Sector of the Indian textile Industry. Igave the above example only to describe the low cost, simplicity and speed withwhich such innovations are translated into commercially viable and profitable products by the so called 'Unorganized Sector'. Yes, such novelty or fancy items haveshorter product life cycle. But those die hard entrepreneurs make sure thatbefore the cycle comes to an end; some new innovations are made and delivered.They are not qualified research scholars. Many do not have even more thanschool level education. Their resources are also very limited. Yet, they feedthe vast Indian Domestic Market of fabric and at the end of the day, make theirliving. Practical creativity in their genes keeps them going.


The purpose of this article is to highlight the in-bornstrength of India. The Indians, by nature are more creative than productive. From my own experience of working with Chinese firms, I can safely say that in termsof textile productivity, China is far ahead of India. But in terms ofinnovation and designing that require emotional quotient, India rules.


Yet, despite having the talents and the demands, India lags behind western countries in terms of remarkable product development. At macrolevel, we have the resources. But there is hardly any meaningful connectionbetween our Industry and the Research Institutes. The R&D at the Industrylevel is virtually non-existent because the Industry hardly understands thelong term value of Product Research. Who will make them understand? Today, wehave institutes like ATIRA, BTRA, SASMIRA, IITs etc, but how many new textile products or finishes they come up with per year? The revolutionary products, finishes andtechnologies like CoolMax, Spandex, Modal, Bamboo Fibre, Tanning Finish,UV-Protection, Air-Texturising, Aramid, and Washable Wool etc. are all inventedat other countries. This is a ripe time that Indian Research Institutes do somepath breaking contributions, make closer connections with the textile andrelated Industries (like the dyes & chemical industry) with innovative products and solutions and help the Indian Textile Industry produce more and more specializedand novelty items and improve their competitiveness.


In the new budget, the Union Government has waived tax onexpenses made on R&D for all manufacturing units. Industries can utilizethis benefit but the initiation should start from the Research Institutes in India.


Theviews expressed are personal. Here 'I' refers to the author.