The Textile Industry

A brief outlook on The Indian textile industryThe Textile Industry 1

At a broader level, the Indian Textile Industry can be divided into two categories: Organized and Unorganized.

Despite India being an emerging economy, the Indian Textile Industry is largely unorganized, relies largely on traditional means in cloth manufacturing, and is also highly labor intensive. The clothes are produced with the help of hands via weaving and spinning methods. Web List Posting

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The remaining half of the industry is very much organized and highly important in capital-intensive production processes. The sector depends on sophisticated mills by which technologically superior machines are utilized for the mass production of textile products.

Further Classification of the Indian Textile Industry

• Textile industry employing fiber derived from artificial means or natural cotton.
• Yarn industry using fiber or filament, similar to the artificial variety
• Textile industry is centered on producing wool, its offshoots, and woolen products.
• Textile industry based on the production and processing of Jute.
• Textile industry centered on mass production of natural silk and final products from silk
• Handloom Industry
• The handicrafts industry, which is primarily unorganized

The textile industry employs fiber derived from artificial means or natural cotton.

This sector is looked upon as the largest producer of textile products. In terms of employment opportunities, the sector employs a maximum number of people in the entire industry, around a mind-boggling one million workers. According to the latest estimates by the Ministry of Textiles, the total number of mills in this sector stood at 1818. The full capacity of all these mills is to

* 35.37 million spindles and * 0.45 million rotors In between April -December 2009, the production of cloth made from artificial fiber accelerated by 21.3 percent.

The Spun Yarn industry can further be segregated into two sub-sectors:-

• Cotton Yarn Manufacturing industry: The production is directly related to cotton production year-on-year, whose output largely depends on the vagaries of nature. Therefore, it is widely observed that the production rate in this sector, more often than not, fluctuates.

Non-cotton-producing industry

The industry is growing at an unprecedented speed, and the production rate in this sector has accelerated consistently. Between 1999 and 2005, the capacity of this sector increased between 80 and 93 percent.

The organized sector is going through a rough patch, and the reason cited is the structural setup’s tweaking. The weaving sector has been separated from the spinning industry, causing the rise of power of a decentralized nature. In recent years, the production capacity of the organized sector plummeted by 0.54 lakh between March 2000 and January 2007.

Nonetheless, the organized sector seems to be fairing better than the unorganized one, with a yearly growth rate of almost 5.4 percent.

The yarn industry utilizing fiber or filament can be divided into two divisions:-

Industry type consisting of the production of cellulosic fibers or filaments
• Industry type consisting of the production of non-cellulosic fibers or filaments

The textile industry centered on producing wool, its offshoots, and woolen products.

• It’s export-oriented• Production base is mainly located in the rural areas
• Both organized as well as non-organized units dominate this sector.

India contributes nearly 1.8 percent of the total wool production in the world. This sector is known for its high employment generation capacity. By 2006, twenty-seven lakh workers were working in this sector. At a broader level, the total raw wool production in India can be segregated into three major grades:-

• Carpet Grade comprising 85% of the total raw wool production
• Coarse Grade comprising 10% of the total raw wool production
• Apparel Grade comprising 5% of the total raw wool production

Nonetheless, it has been found that the demand for raw wool in India is more than the output; hence, a large part of the local demand is met by importing raw wool. Thread is the only natural fiber in which the country has not yet achieved self-sufficiency.

The sector also attracts foreign exchange earnings from the export of woolen products.

At present, there are 958 woolen units in the country.

Some exclusive items used in wool fiber production in India include Pasmina and Angora.

The textile industry is based on the production and processing of Jute.

A significant part of Eastern India is in the production and processing of Jute in West Bengal. Nearly 4 million farm families depend on it. The industry provides employment opportunities to 2.6 lakh industrial workers and another 1.4 lakh people in the allied sectors. In the world market, the contribution of this industry is noteworthy. The export earnings from the sector stand at Rs.1200 crore. In the export of final jute products, India bags second position worldwide. Besides, revenue also comes from government and private orders for packaging purposes.

The special features of Jute:-

• Natural Fiber
• Biodegradable product
• The fibers can be renewed after use
• Eco-friendly

In India, Raw Jute is manufactured in the following states:-

• West Bengal
• Assam
• Bihar
Andhra Pradesh
• Meghalaya
• Orissa
• Tripura

The total production of raw Jute in India is almost 90 to 100 lakh bales. The industry gets good support from the government. The crucial support comes in the form of a Minimum Support Price. The support price increased from Rs.910 to Rs.1000

The textile industry centered on the mass production of natural silk and final products from silk.

India is the world’s leading producer of silk and the second largest producer; of the four varieties produced, Mulberry accounts for 88.7 percent, Eri accounts for 8.4 percent, Tasar 3.8, and Muga silk 0.6 percent. Its contribution to the total world production of silk is about 18 percent.

The rearing and breeding of silkworms and producing raw silk are known as Sericulture. The industry is considered one of the top cottage industries in India. Over fifty thousand villagers are into silk production. One of the most remarkable aspects of this industry is its labor -intensiveness.