Ludhiana sewing parts industry on the decline

Naresh Bansal's son Vikas is not too keen on joining the family's business of manufacturing sewing machine spares.

Naresh, who is a partner in the business with his brother Nawal, is not too happy with the business, either, due to low margins and rising costs. To make matters worse, the technology has also remained the same for the last 90 years, he complains. To add to the woes, Chinese sewing machine manufacturers have entered the market.

"We sell manual machines for Rs 700"�800 a piece and Chinese-motorised machines are now available at the same price," says Bansal. As a result, the next generation of the Bansal clan is now diversifying into new business areas, including assembling sewing machines, besides manufacturing spares, which generate revenues of Rs 1.5 crore annually.

Last year onwards, the Bansals have started exporting bicycles to Nigeria and Kenya.

Ludhiana has been a traditional sewing machine centre with large companies like Singer and Usha sourcing some of their machines from assemblers like Rex, Gemini, and Laxmi, which also sell under their own brands. Besides, companies like Singer have their own assembly units outside Punjab but depend heavily on Ludhiana for spares.

According to estimates, there are nearly 200 assemblers in Ludhiana alone, but some of them are now shutting shop due to financial crunch and competition.

"The problem lies with local industry. They have hardly shown interest in adopting new technology or production techniques, something that the cycle industry has successfully done over the years. You still find only kali-wali (black) machines being manufactured in Ludhiana," said B K Sangha, general manager at the research & development centre for bicycle and sewing machines (a Unido-UNDP project).

The development commissioner, small-scale industry, has proposed setting up a cluster development programme but the differences among local players have led to delay in the implementation of the scheme.

"They have to join hands if they want to survive," says Sangha.