Surat garment industry's future lies in tatters

Surat is one of the biggest centre of textiles in the country. It is home to over six lakh powerlooms, more than 400 processing units, and 40,000-plus wholesale textile firms.

Despite all this, the garment industry has failed to take off.

"Around ten years back, there used to be several garment manufacturing units in Surat, which were mainly involved in exports. These units could not adapt to the changing scenario and trends, which coupled by labour problems, led to their closure," Arun Jariwala, chairman, Surat Art Silk Cloth Manufacturers Association (SASCMA), told Business Standard.

"In the recent years, the garment industry did not grow in Surat, mainly because there was so much demand for sarees, that the textile industry never felt the need to manufacture anything else," he said.

Jariwala said there are only around fifty garment manufacturing units in Surat, but the number would go up significantly in coming years.

"We always had the weaving and processing industries in Surat. Garment manufacturing requires value addition, which Surat did not have until recently."

"An apparel park, which would house around 50 garment manufacturing units, is being developed at Sachin. The number of garment units would move north once the park becomes fully operational in the next one-and-a-half to two years. Even today, there are many textile businessmen who are contemplating setting up garment units in Surat. In the next five years, the number of garment units would increase manifolds. Fifty per cent of the fabric manufactured in Surat, would be used locally for garment manufacturing," he said.

"The state government has recently identified sixteen industrial training institutes in and around Surat, that would be upgraded. Training regarding garment manufacturing would be imparted in these institutes. Even some private agencies have evinced interest in setting up training institutes in Surat. So the shortage of skilled workforce for the garment industry, would cease to be an issue in the next few years," Jariwala said.

"The general belief is that garment industry is an export oriented industry. This is not quite true as there is a huge demand for the garments in the domestic market. With the changing cultures, the demand for garments will only go up. So the future of the garment manufacturing industry is extremely bright," he said.