Gujarat has always been known as a Textile hub of India, but when it comes to garment manufacturing, the state is still lagging far behind other states in India.
The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SGCCI) recently organised a webinar on ‘Smart and Efficient Garment Factories as Engine for Growth of Gujarat Textile Industry’ in which renowned names in India’s garment sector gave directions to the Surat industry.
The webinar marked the presence of speakers – Prashant Agarwal, Co-founder, Wazir Advisors; Gunish Jain, Managing Director, BlueKaktus; Tony Uppal, Chairman, Pee Empro Apparels; and Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, CMAI.
The centre point of the discussion was why Surat is not able to get into garmenting despite having a rich textile industry and abundant workforce? Some of the reasons panelists stated are – low HCI (Human Capital Index); lack of trainings of workforce; no following of international manufacturing standards; no contacts in reputed buying houses; lack of skills and technical understanding in designers which keep them away from latest trends.
To present a better scenario through trade data and statistics, Prashant Agarwal commented that India just shares 4 per cent in the world’s apparel trade and Gujarat’s share in this is negligible, despite Gujarat being a state where State Government provides best of infrastructure though industrial zones, incentives and subsidies.
“Gujarat has around 30 sanctioned textile parks which is far more than other states, yet garmenting is not there because entrepreneurs think it’s not a profitable business. It certainly is profitable if you build a productive and efficient factory, which Gujarat can do as it has resources in hands,” shared Prashant.
Talking not just about Surat industry but also entire Indian garment industry, Tony Uppal emphasised on the fact industry stakeholders need to seriously discuss the loopholes in supply chain with the policy makers which is not happening now. “Whenever any meeting with top Government official happens, nobody from the industry gets into strong discussion to put all the problems on the table and ask a positive debate to get a proper plan to solve the prolonged issues,” opined Tony adding that one reason of lagging behind Bangladesh and Vietnam despite having rich raw material industry is that there is huge gap in understanding among Government, consulting companies and manufacturers. “Can entire industry just sit to discuss a problem with the Government and only get up when it is solved…not in conversation but in real?,” asked Tony on a serious note.
Taking baton in his hands after Tony, Rahul Mehta laid out some points and suggested Surat industry to focus on those points. According to Rahul, marketing of a product is as important as its manufacturing and this is not happening across Gujarat and even in India. “Apart from Marketing, what manufacturers need to think upon are – enhance productivity of entire factory; build compliant factories; produce environment-friendly products and focus more on MMF apparels, not just cotton apparels,” said Rahul.
At last, Gunish Jain suggested the attendees to start identifying some 3, 4 areas before trying to invest in technology. “To start with, an effective ERP system is a must for all factories. Gone are the days when factories thought excel sheets would do their jobs,” concluded Gunish.
