Boasting to have 35 cotton ginning mills, five synthetic yarn manufacturing units, four worsted yarn manufacturing units, three composite units, 392 synthetic fabric manufacturing units and 16 process houses with 60 centers, the town has emerged as India's largest manufacturer of polyester/viscose suitings. Its share in the polyester/viscose fabrics (suitings) sector is around 48 per cent in India giving a turnover of over Rs 1,800 crore per annum.

The phenomenal growth of the industry - P/V suitings - is something interesting if seen in the context of a similar scenario elsewhere in the country. There is nothing special about Bhilwara to have come to the top position in the country except the fact that the entrepreneurs are a unique lot with a zeal to have something of their own even though the initial troubles happen to be serious.

Rajasthan is known for their Marwari entrepreneurs who have done so well out of the state but the Mewari entrepreneurs of Bhilwara have demonstrated that they are second to none. Their entrepreneurial skills are very rare and if they get support from outside they would do still better.

But things change with them when money comes into play. The whole industry is in the grip of price war and the gainers are obviously the big traders and wholesalers. By selling the suitings to the retailers they make handsome returns.

They do business even at a margin of one rupee or so and in the process the large players have been hit hard. Their overheads are very low compared to that of the bigger players such as the LNJ Jhunjhunwala group, Sangam group, Inani group etc. Money spent on the wages by the large and established players is much more with the result that their margins have fallen to new lows.

"We are doing our best to grapple with the disturbing scenario arising out of the price war and our stress has been on the quality products" says a spokesman of the Rs 1,600 crore LNJ Bhilwara group. The market niche created by the group is very different. The same is true in case of the Rs 300 crore Sangam group, headed by RP Soni.

The town manufacturers about three crore metres of the P/V fabrics (per month) and the sales realisations are about Rs 1,800 crore per year. The latest craze is to have tgo the well known sulzer looms, imported from Switzerland. The old CIMCO looms are slowing disappearing as the manufacturers are not having the quality products by their use.

The price war has the potential to kill a large number of small players as and when the market scenario changes. If there is a dip in the market demand these players will have a hard time as the volumes will also fall. They survive today largely due to the large volumes. None among the small players is bothering to have reserves to meet any unforeseen situation in the future. But what is redeeming is that the entrepreneurs have become conscious of the need to have technological upgradation as and when it is required to be done.

In the major towns of the country brands still sell at a premium and the large players have taken advantage of their marketing skills. One such unit is BSL Ltd of the Jhunjhunwala group which has a market motto of "quality now and forever". The known brands are La Italia Trousers, Buddy Davis T-Shirts and Polos.

The Bhilwara Classique men's undergarments are also from the house of Bhilwara. The town had the birth of the textile industry way back in 1961 when LN Jhunjhunwala set up his first unit to manufacture synthetic yarn. The unit is known as Bhilwara Spinners Ltd but it has of late, making losses. Higher overheads and the union troubles have resulted in the working losses. It has now a total of 33,000 spindles and the losses are met from exports. "On exports we get a higher return" says its spokesman.