 "One who laid new ground rules for jute and sugar")
Whatever the areas of work, only a few manage to leave their footprints on the sands of time. Let us consider two agro-based labour-intensive sectors - jute and sugar - where an individual who died a month ago did some course-changing work to improve their sustainability. India enjoys a major global profile in these two sectors. The country hosts the world's largest jute mill sector. It has also the biggest share of world raw jute cultivation. Most of the country's jute mills are in West Bengal, which also is the principal centre of jute growing. Mills in Bangladesh benefiting from liberal export subsidy, interest subvention and a lower wage bill compared to the one obtaining across the border stole a march over India in jute goods exports years ago. The dollar exchange rate of Bangladeshi taka is a major aid in exports. The domestic market being small, the survival of Bangladeshi industry depended on its ability to wrest away big portions of India's share of the world jute goods market. Besides help from successive governments, what allowed Bangladeshi industry to gain a pole position in the global market is the virtual self-flagellation practised by a large section of Indian jute mills. Their investments in modernisation were inadequate. Productivity, therefore, have remained low.
Instead of developing new products, most Indian mills preferred to lean on government shoulders for orders for jute bags. Strangely even when fertilisers and cement were freed from compulsory packaging in jute bags, not much movement was seen in the industry towards diversification from century-old commoditised constructions to new generation products such as geotextiles, soil saver, composites and jute in blend with other fibres. In the country's total production of jute goods of 1.2 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 (July to June), the share of non-traditional products was only 58,309 tonnes. In an environment of gradual industry decline when leading business groups such as Birlas, Goenkas and Singhanias exited the sector, Shyam Sundar Kanoria (SS to his friends), who never left Kolkata bought Ludlow Jute in 1977 from the American owners. He took the challenge to show at one unit level what real sense modernisation from preparatory to finishing sections and introduction of professional management practices could do for the industry.
Ahead of Ludlow acquisition, SS had association with jute business. The Kanoria family at one point owned over half a dozen jute mills. Commodity jute business not his cup of tea, he progressively reduced his stake in the traditional industry in order to make it big in chemicals under Kanoria Chemicals flag. Friends recall SS used to regret the industry's failure to promote use of jute here and beyond based on its "environment friendliness, renewability and biodegradability" and by way of creating mass awareness of the damage that toxic wastes from synthetic products cause to the ecology. SS also saw immense possibility of blending jute with other natural and manmade fibres for production of furnishing and apparel fabrics. Packaging of food items in particular will remain the mainstay of jute. At the same time, mills could only have better top line and bottom line provided they use a good portion of their capacity to make non-traditional products. SS would say mastering technology alone would not help unless the industry became market savvy to project jute as a lifestyle product.
Indian Sugar Exim Corporation (ISEC), jointly promoted by National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories and Isma is in a way a brainchild of Kanoria. Thanks mainly to ISEC, the country demonstrated its capacity to export close to 5 mt during 2007-08. Consider the current sugar scene. Thanks to bumper sugar production for four consecutive years resulting in very high stocks, India is under pressure to export up to 2 mt this year. Fall in inventory will help in improving the health of sugar factories and their capacity to settle cane bills quickly. SS never stopped reminding the sugar industry that as it should stay fleet footed in trading in the world market, farmer welfare must enjoy top priority.
Instead of developing new products, most Indian mills preferred to lean on government shoulders for orders for jute bags. Strangely even when fertilisers and cement were freed from compulsory packaging in jute bags, not much movement was seen in the industry towards diversification from century-old commoditised constructions to new generation products such as geotextiles, soil saver, composites and jute in blend with other fibres. In the country's total production of jute goods of 1.2 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 (July to June), the share of non-traditional products was only 58,309 tonnes. In an environment of gradual industry decline when leading business groups such as Birlas, Goenkas and Singhanias exited the sector, Shyam Sundar Kanoria (SS to his friends), who never left Kolkata bought Ludlow Jute in 1977 from the American owners. He took the challenge to show at one unit level what real sense modernisation from preparatory to finishing sections and introduction of professional management practices could do for the industry.
Ahead of Ludlow acquisition, SS had association with jute business. The Kanoria family at one point owned over half a dozen jute mills. Commodity jute business not his cup of tea, he progressively reduced his stake in the traditional industry in order to make it big in chemicals under Kanoria Chemicals flag. Friends recall SS used to regret the industry's failure to promote use of jute here and beyond based on its "environment friendliness, renewability and biodegradability" and by way of creating mass awareness of the damage that toxic wastes from synthetic products cause to the ecology. SS also saw immense possibility of blending jute with other natural and manmade fibres for production of furnishing and apparel fabrics. Packaging of food items in particular will remain the mainstay of jute. At the same time, mills could only have better top line and bottom line provided they use a good portion of their capacity to make non-traditional products. SS would say mastering technology alone would not help unless the industry became market savvy to project jute as a lifestyle product.
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Sugar industry official Om Prakash Dhanuka says: "Kanoria pioneered sugar exports from India as early as 1957 when he was president of Indian Sugar Mills Association (Isma). In appreciation of this, he was retained as chairman of export agency division of Isma for many years thereafter. Sugar being a cyclical commodity, SS wanted India to be quick in its decision on export and import depending on size of domestic production and global price behaviour."
Indian Sugar Exim Corporation (ISEC), jointly promoted by National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories and Isma is in a way a brainchild of Kanoria. Thanks mainly to ISEC, the country demonstrated its capacity to export close to 5 mt during 2007-08. Consider the current sugar scene. Thanks to bumper sugar production for four consecutive years resulting in very high stocks, India is under pressure to export up to 2 mt this year. Fall in inventory will help in improving the health of sugar factories and their capacity to settle cane bills quickly. SS never stopped reminding the sugar industry that as it should stay fleet footed in trading in the world market, farmer welfare must enjoy top priority.