Interview with Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal

Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal
Member Secretary
Textiles Committee

Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal, after completing M.B.B.S. in 1988, joined the Indian Revenue Service in 1989. On his joining Indian Revenue Service, he was allotted Income Tax Department and posted in Surat, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. During his assignments with Income Tax Department, Dr, Aggarwal was involved in investigations of major industrial houses/large companies leading to unearthing of hundreds of crores of unaccounted income.

Textiles Committee plays a vital role in the development of Indian textile industry. Could you please elaborate on the charter and its core activities?

The main charter of the Textiles Committee is to ensure the quality of textiles both for internal consumption and exports. Its core activities include -establishing standard specifications for textiles, textile machinery and the packing materials, establishing laboratories for the testing of textiles and textile machinery, providing training in the techniques of quality control, providing for the inspection and examination of textiles and textile machinery, promoting export of textiles, collecting, analyzing and publishing statistics relevant to the textile industry, etc.

To what extent has Textile Committee contributed towards improving Quality Standards of Indian textile to meet overseas competition?

Way back in the sixties, the Textiles Committee established minimum standards for cotton textile fabrics, cotton yarn, which were made compulsorily applied on the export. Later, the minimum standards were established for manmade-fibre fabrics, woollen fabrics, blended fabrics, made-up items etc. The compulsory application of these minimum standards for the exports definitely brought the quality conscientiousness to the manufacturers. With the passage of time, due to these compulsory inspections the quality of the textile items improved. Later, the manufacturers themselves started realizing the importance of quality. To help them in their efforts, the Committee made available various value based services like proving testing facilities, technical consultancy for creating captive test centres in the place of manufacture, training the industry personnel to assess the quality of their products, technical consultancy for rectification of flaws, consultancy for implementation of quality systems, environment standards, social accountability standards, etc, publication of technical papers for improvement of quality, etc.

Post textile quotas phase has raised expectations of Indian and other textile industries abroad, as well. It has also generated fierce competition within the textile world. What do you read of this overall global situation?

From a quota restricted textile trade to the open market trade, the world expects a boom for the textile and clothing industry of India, the major competitor being China. This is the time for strict discipline all down the supply chain, particular attention being thrust on quality and time schedule.

What is your analysis of the India textile industry today, and where do you expect it to lead the Indian textile industry?

The global situation now and in the future will concentrate on salability of the textile products and the ability to make them available within the time schedule. The focus of Indian textiles will shift from fashion attires to regular wears in the near future. We should exploit our strong point of cotton textiles. We should also improve our processing capabilities and concentrate more on export of processed/ finished goods.

Countries like China, Pakistan & Bangladesh have strong production and quality deliverables backing their textile chain to make it to the global markets. What could be India's advantage or disadvantage at coming up against such strong Asian neighbours?

First, speaking of disadvantage, the major disadvantage is the mind-set. The attitude of 'get-rich-quick-by-whatever-means' has to change to 'establish-a-name-in-market-for-continuous-sustenance'. There should be a sure footed move to market 'brand India'. As for advantages, India has more edge than any of our neighbours - resources, cost-effective labour, technical know-how, technology, etc. With a little boost of infrastructure facilities we would be hard to beat.

Can you raise a fair comparison between India and China on the textile front?

In my opinion, there is no need for a comparison between India and China on the textile front as they both operate in different areas. While China scores in high volume, low variety and low margin products; we score in the products requiring strong design element, having more variety and more margin. In the world textile and clothing trade, there is a place for both types of products and hence both of us can co-exist.

What is your "heady potion" for the success of Indian textile industry at the world level?

"Brand India" being the most sought after product throughout the world - a store getting recognized for selling Indian products alone.

What has been the Textiles Committee's involvement in the development of apparel / textile & garment clusters in the country? Which are the ongoing project and those planned for the near future?

The Committee has launched a National Programme of Cluster Development in 2002, based on the UNIDO project. Though it was started as coordination programme, from 2005 it has been taken up as an ongoing activity. Recognizing the need for promoting the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), the Committee's present activities concentrate on textile SMEs.

What extra efforts is the Textile Committee putting in to provide the Indian industry, the cutting edge?

The mandate of Textiles Committee right since its inception has been to promote the culture of quality in Indian textile industry. Towards this end, we are not only providing textile testing and export promotion services, we are also engaged in providing consultancy on various standards like ISO 9000, SA 8000, ISO 14000, etc. In our Cluster Development Programme, we try to bring the latest technologies relating to cost reduction, environmental protection and quality improvement to the industry.

What are the ambitious targets set by the Government for the textile industry in the coming year and in the coming decade?

Ministry of Textiles has set a target for upgradation of technology of the industry for achieving a growth of textile economy from the current US $ 37 billion to US $ 85 billion by 2010. Similarly we have a target to increase our share in world textile trade from current 4% to 8% by 2010 and achieve export value of US $ 50 billion by 2010.

What investments do you envisage for the Indian textile industry, and what resources will be deployed to garner them?

Huge investments are required for achieving the targets envisaged by our Ministry and it is for the industry to make use of various schemes like Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme etc., and make the necessary investments.

There are several textile sub sector in India that need to improve their state and performance. Could you please identify those sectors, and how will the government and the industry jointly partner in improving their state and raise the overall quality to match international standards?

While we are traditionally strong in the spinning and apparel making sectors, we are not that strong in the weaving sector. The number of shuttle-less looms continues to be much below our competitors like Pakistan. Another area for immediate attention is the processing sector. Our fabric exports are mostly unprocessed. We can make value addition by exporting processed goods.

Any other general observation you wish to make for the benefit of Fibre2fashion.com's Indian and global audiences that may value-add for this interview?

Being a late entrant into WTO, China has to face certain restrictions in the biggest textile and clothing market i.e, US and EU and these restrictions are going to continue till 2008. We must make use of this window and establish ourselves as reliable suppliers of quality textiles and clothing.

Published on: 01/02/2006

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.