This was derived at a workshop organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here in collaboration with Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). The workshop was attended by government officials, textiles producers, garment manufacturers and buyers.

This vital sector, contributing to about eight per cent of the GDP and 20 per cent of earnings, has strengths that go hand in hand with its inherent weaknesses but faces more threats than opportunities as per a SWOT analysis by the Ministry of Textiles (MoT). Most of the speakers agreed that the government or industry alone may not be able to face the challenges.

Availability of raw materials, vast range of staples, farmers' adaptability to grow different varieties, wide variety of processes and technologies,competitive wages, and tremendous heritage of textile designing, are the strengths of this industry. On the other hand the weaknesses are low productivity, poor ginning and pressing facilities, small product basket in garments, no brand building, and low economies of scale due to reservation for small sector and difficulty in framing policy to suit all the sectors.Immense entrepreneurship, institutional and academic support for developing human resources, and application of Information Technology (IT) are the immense opportunities yet to be encashed by this industry. However the threats looming large over the industry are quota removal, end of protectionism, free trade regime, and removal of non-tariff barriers.

In his keynote address, the Union secretary (Textiles) Shyamal Ghosh said that the task force headed by former textiles secretary Satyam is scheduled to be submitted soon and an action plan on the basis of which the Government of India would announce the new Textiles Policy around June.

Atpresent, he said, India has maximum area under cotton crop and is the third largest producer of raw cotton in the world. Bringing more crops under irrigation and increasing yield could make the country the largest producer in the world. But the problem of quality has to be addressed on a different front.

He identified technology obsolence and high capital cost for technological upgradation as the two biggest stumbling blocks for the textiles and garment sector.

In his opinion the steps that required a immediate attention by the industry and government included improving agricultural infrastructure for storage to reduce wastage, improving ginning and pressing facility, ensuring quality certification and environment friendliness norms, strategic alliances to synergise market and technology access, HRD and creating a duty and tariff structure to help value-addition in the industry.

Ghosh said that his ministry has submitted its proposal to the government for a three-slab excise duty structure with amaximum of eight, 13 and 18 per cent for raw materials, intermediaries and finished products respectively. He wished that the respective state governments also rationalised sales tax component needed for re-engineering and changing the focus of the industry. Gujarat has been a centre for textiles and garments in the country in the past and with leaders like Arvind and Ashima around the state has the potential to provide the role model for future.

International management consultant Rolan Berger's managing director Karl Ulrich said the emerging trade blocks in different regions have put the country at a disadvantage as it has yet to form or belong to a strong block. In his opinion, verticalisation of global brands as well as chains would play a major role in the garment scenario in future.

Creative Outerwear's managing director Rahul Mehta said that core strategies of the past were losing their importance as the customers provided important shift in values. He said productivity-led timely delivery andInformation Technology (IT) management would be the two key determinants for success in future.

IIM-A's faculty Pankaj Chandra, presenting a comprehensive picture of garment industry along with two important case studies of Chinese garment industry, mooting a `co-operative and cluster approach' as a likely role model for future.