ITF urges brands, retailers to source locally

The Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has appealed to domestic and international brands operating in the country to focus on sourcing from within and increase engagement levels with apparel clusters in the country.

The appeal comes in the wake of a 53 per cent jump in imports of readymade garments (RMG) from Bangladesh. In terms of Indian currency, the increase in import of Bangladeshi RMG has cost approximately ₹7,500 crore of garmenting business for India.

“It would have created an additional 6,000 jobs in the spinning sector, 500 jobs in the processing sector, 1,00,000 jobs in the garmenting sector and another 40,000 jobs in the printing and embroidery sector of textile value chain,” ITF convenor Prabhu Dhamodharan told Fibre2Fashion.

The ITF is one of the largest textile entrepreneurs’ association, representing the entire value chain of the textile manufacturing sector.

During the July-April period of fiscal 2018-19, Bangladesh’s overall exports to India shot up by 53 per cent to $1.07 billion from $701.56 million during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, ITF said, citing data from Bangladesh’s Export Promotion Bureau (EPB). RMG constituted a major portion of these exports.

“While the Indian textiles industry is already facing a sluggish demand in domestic markets and is witnessing stagnant exports, prospective job losses of approximately 1.5 lakh will severely impact the textile manufacturing sector,” Dhamodharan added.

“It is paradoxical because our government is making best possible efforts to promote ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’ and incentivising job creation in the second most labour-intensive sector of India i.e. the textiles industry. Therefore, ITF as a responsible organisation, and considering the situation of the Indian textiles industry and the job creation challenge, is urging all brands and retail chains operating in India to explore possibilities of partnerships with garmenting hubs of the country like Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Karur, Erode, Surat, Ludhiana, etc.,” he added.

ITF said that both in terms of quality and as well as in competitive pricing, Indian clusters can better serve the sourcing needs of both western and Indian brands, compared to products sourced from either Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Indonesia.

The Coimbatore-based ITF, which has a member base of 550 textile manufacturing units with a combined sales turnover of more than $6 billion, said it is ready to take the responsibility for creating a platform for all retailers and brands and will ensure the best possible support and cooperation for engaging them with apparel manufacturing units in all clusters of Tamil Nadu. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India