Rising Re slows down fashion growth

Appreciation of 12% sees placements, salaries drop 5-7 per cent; retail majors avoid the downslide.

Appreciation of the rupee by over 12 per cent in 2007-08 has taken its toll on this year's placements at textile and fashion institutes in the country. Placements have dropped by around 5-7 per cent as compared to last year. The average salaries, too, have seen a dip of around 4 per cent and 11 per cent for the masters and bachelors courses, respectively.

For instance, at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) "" India's largest fashion technology and management university "" nearly 1,100 out of the total 1,270 students studying across its eight centres in India registered for placements this year. Around 1,300 job offers were made.

"The slowdown in the industry has brought about a depressing effect this time. Retail has boomed, bringing in some of the best offers, but placement figures have dropped by 5-7 per cent," said Sanjay Gupta, Head "" Industry Linkage Unit, NIFT. NIFT salaries offered so far affirm the trend.

Last year, Students with a Masters in Fashion Technology received an average salary offer of Rs 4.28 lakh per annum which has come down to Rs 4.13 lakh. Students with a Masters in Fashion Management had an average salary offer of Rs 3.42 lakh per annum, which has dipped to Rs 3.05 lakh. Students with Bachelors in Fashion Technology received an average salary offer of Rs 2.74 lakh last year which has also dipped to Rs 2.6 lakh.

The adverse effect of rising rupee on the textile sector is also influencing the career choices of students. "A large number of students who had opted for the Master of Fashion Technology programme two years back were eager to specialise in apparel and textile exports management.

However, the recession in the garment industry has meant that students are now more inclined towards career opportunities in other sectors. Close to 30 per cent of the students are interested in retail and marketing, 30 per cent in merchandising while the rest are focused on supply chain management," explains Benaya Bhusan Jena, head of the Fashion Management Studies Department at NIFT, Gandhinagar.

Offers from small- and mid-sized export houses have either been below par or dried up completely at various centres of NIFT. While major export houses like Madura Exports, Shahi Exports, Fair Lady Exports, Viraj Exports and others continue to hire from fashion institutes, the smaller ones are absent. Simultaneously, Indian and international fashion brands, merchandising majors and top retail companies have shown interest in absorbing fashion management students at entry- and mid-level management positions.

Over 200 companies visited NIFT's centralised placements this year. The highest average growth in salaries has been bagged by bachelor degree students specialising in Fashion Communications.

Similar trends have also been observed at the Pearl Academy of Fashion. A K Sharma, Head of Department, Fashion Retail, Pearl Academy of Fashion, says: "The business is shrinking and thus the offers are shrinking. The opportunities have therefore gone down in the sector.

Students have largely opted for domestic retail firms rather than getting employed with export houses. The ratio of export trade to domestic trade stands at 30:70. The salaries range between Rs 2.5 lakh per annum and Rs 4.25 lakh per annum."

While corroborating the view, Group Director of the institute, AKG Nair, says that until two years back, campus recruitment at the Pearl Academy of Fashion were dominated by export houses or buying houses. However, the trend has been changing for last couple of years. He said that retail majors have been bullish at campus placements both in terms of number of students intake and salary offers.

Apart from retail, new recruiters included companies from the accessories industry and fashion consulting. At NIFT, export and fashion management companies from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and other countries in the West Asia offered average packages of Rs 8 lakh. Fashion designers like Rohit Bal, Reena Dhaka and Puja Arya have also come to the NIFT placements this year. Pantaloon, Pyramid, Vishal, Raymonds, Koutons and others were the top retail recruiters.

Around 260 students sat for placements at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. Over 53 companies visited the campus and made 124 offers, which include diploma projects and industrial training opportunity besides placements. Around 7 to 8 companies recruited students from the textile design and apparel design & merchandising discipline.

General Motors (for internal design of their automobiles), North America design Centre, Madura Garments of Aditya Birla Nuva group, Noorjehan Exports, Swadeshi Silks, Synergy lifestyles Pvt. Ltd and TI Cycles were some of the top recruiters.

The silver lining, according to Jena, is that despite the rupee effect, some students have expressed interest in working with export companies or starting their own export-oriented units, expecting current conditions to improve in the near future.