<b>Letters:</b> Textile absurdities

I am astonished at the blind reporting in “More foreign players in the textile sector in 4-5 months” (November 25). Anyone who has followed the textile industry in India will find it laughable that Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran’s European jaunt was reported like this. A good newspaper would have asked questions of the minister and his team. Here are some for starters:

 

Radici, Rieter and Benninger already have large, successful India operations. So where is the question of a “greenfield” project?
 

Coin is a department store chain. They’re already sourcing from here. 
 

All the big players are already well-entrenched in the Indian market. There is nothing they don’t know about the market.

No one is going to invest here until three key issues are resolved: Labour, power and the flip-flops over cotton exports. In fact, many companies are planning to move out of this sector (Welspun, Raymond, Bombay Dyeing) and have started investing in other areas, leaving a handful like Alok and Vardhman. Welspun, by any yardstick among the best managed companies in this sector, hasn’t added a single spindle for a long while now and Himatsingka burnt its fingers on their bed linen project.

On the other hand, Alok has bought $2 billion worth of capital equipment in the past four-five years and a business newspaper like yours should be asking their bankers how they are being loaned public money. The numbers just don’t add up. Some years ago, Technocraft bought a East European firm using the same strategy and we all know what happened there.

Have you wondered why there are no research reports from the finance companies on any textile firms? The real story can be had from others in the industry who deal with these firms.

Ambik Gandhi, on email