India's current share of the apparel market is 3%. This isfar below the initial projection of 15% by 2015 when the quotas were firstphased out in 2005. The reason for this lost opportunity is that in spite ofhaving the second largest textile complex after China, there is segmentationwithin the industry. Currently, 40% of international trade is between theEuropean countries.


Opportunities in the Domestic Apparel Market:


Much of this presents an opportunity for Asia. The domesticmarket has shown a significant growth in past registering a Compounded AnnualGrowth Rate (CAGR) of ~13%. Despite the recent demand slump, the domesticmarket is expected to grow at around 9-10% in the next 5 years. The Indianapparel market is moving away from the traditional segmentation to a muchdeeper and wider segmentation based on consumer needs. Some of the segmentsthat are potential opportunities to watch out for are: Womens wear, Casualwears, Kids wear, School Uniforms, Inner wear, Plus size clothing, Active wear/Exercise wear/ Swimwear, and Youth fashion/ College fashion. Rural, mass andethnic wear are huge opportunities that are popularly overlooked in favor ofurban, premium and western wear. Indian domestic apparel market is currentlypegged at between 12-15 thousand crores, with several high potentialdemographics still untapped such as teens, extra large sizes and children,among others.


Issues and ways of solving them


The Indian textile sector is largely fragmented. It is alsohampered by a lack of adequately developed real estate, a shortage of trainedand specialized human capital, weak labour laws, and frail logistics and supplychain systems. The gap between supply and demand is resulting in high levels ofattrition, skewed salaries and increased costs of doing business for theindustry.


Talent Retention


Textile industry is highly labour intensive in nature.Managing a team engaged in doing largely repetitive work is one of thechallenges that we face.


Retention Policy


With the textile sector in India on a rapid growthtrajectory, the availability of quality skilled manpower is a constraint.Employee retention is critical for us and we attempt to address this issue by:


  • Taking care of their growth and aspirations;
  • Offering them ESOP's
  • Felicitation of employees with long term commitment;
  • Offering retention bonus to employees


While low cost of labour is an advantage, power is expensiveand scarce; interest rates and capital subsidy are very high.


Companies need to adopt best management practices, like leanmanufacturing, from global players. With increasing global competition andevolving consumerism it is slowly becoming a must for textile manufacturers tobe innovative. Activities like R&D and designing should be treated as keysuccess factors and a pre-requisite rather than an afterthought.


The industry needs fresh and innovative thoughts to improveits existing work practices and drive efficiencies in manufacturing and supplychain. The best way to do this is by reaching out to the young managerialtalent and give them the right incentives to join the T&A industry.



Theauthor is MD and Chairman, Ankita Group.