Ludhiana loses out to Chinese spare part firms

According to experts, almost 90 percent of the Ludhiana textile and hosiery industry is using Chinese machines.

Naresh Kumar Chawla, Vice-President of The Sewing Machine Dealers & Assemblers Association said though the sewing machines and the parts produced by China are poor in quality but the cost at which they are available in the market is what gives them an edge over the Indian made counter parts.

"An Indian made needle is priced at around Rs 1 per piece, a Japanese needle at Rs 2.5 but a Chinese needle can be had for a price as low as 20 paise. Same way even the needle plate bobbins and bobbin case are cheaper when bought from China.''

The instability in the rising prices of the raw material, the unscheduled power cuts and the government's apathy has added to the woes of the industry under crisis.

"The price of the sheet metal, an important raw material used in the sewing has increased from Rs 26, 000 to Rs 36,000 a tonne in the last six months or so and same is the case with nickel which has seen a price rise from Rs 600 to Rs 1,000 in the last few months,'' added Chawla.

Inderjit Singh of Darbar Sales India says Chinese machines are more in demand because the Indian sewing machine models are many years old and have never been changed ever since they came into being.

"The Chinese models are based on Japanese technology and that is why they are more in demand. The Chinese industry caters to the whole world and their models are acclaimed internationally. Chinese machines are alos giving tough competition to Japanese companies as well," he added.

A Japanese multi head computerized sewing machine is priced at around Rs 20 lakh and the same machine is supplied by China at Rs 4 lakh.''