Analyses

The sheer expanse of the textiles and apparel industry can be extremely overwhelming for the uninitiated eye. The value chain of this industry is possibly the longest, and its Indian avatar is crucial not just to the country's political economy, but has a bearing on its socio-cultural fabric too. From the unorganised handloom sector to the capital-intensive retail outlets, and from decentralised powerlooms to state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, the Indian textiles and apparel sector cuts...

When 'fast fashion', both as a path-breaking concept as well as a cutting-edge strategy, caught the imagination of the global textiles and apparel industry, few could have imagined that in around two decades or so not only would the argument be turned on its head, but also that it would be 'fast fashion' primarily that would be seen as giving fashion a bad name. Today, fast fashion is antithecial to sustainable fashion, and if fashion needs to become sustainable, then fast fashion will need to...

The keywords when determining the outlook for an industry, by and large are drivers, restraints and opportunities. Each, again, can be broken down into innumerable factors. The interplay of all these, in turn, may make for a chaotic situation. Whether there is a method in this madness is what usually makes the bottomline. It is also inevitable that both perspectives and forecasts may vary. This writer sought the opinion of two experts on the subject of textile machinery, and saw them in the...

It's a big industry by any measure—one that not only generates huge revenues for the country's economy, but also offers equally immense employment potential. The British fashion industry had revenues of £28 billion in 2015, and employed about 880,000 people—right from manufacturing to retail. It's one of the sectors that is going to more than feel the pinch with the June 23 referendum calling for the exit of the United Kingdom from the 28-country European Union (EU). On a scale of severity, the...

The June 22 textile package announced by the Union government is being described in many quarters as the proverbial stitch in time. But whether it will, like the proverb foretells, be able to save nine, is a question that needs circumspection. That said, there is little doubt that the Rs6,000 crore package has come as a much-needed whiff of fresh air for a desperate industry that has been gasping for breath. The last two Budgets had little on offer for the textiles and apparel industry, and the...

Making post-result analyses of elections can be great fun. With the advantage of hindsight, all you need to do is Google up a bit, and speak to ten people. And, you can easily land up with vacuous, click-bait lists such as: Ten reasons why Mamata made a comeback, 13 facts about Mamata's landslide victory, Six things you should know about the Left debacle in West Bengal, and so on. Precious few of them would answer the elementary question: why did the majority of the people in West Bengal vote...

The Karnataka High Court's interim order of March 24, 2016 saying that the Union government cannot regulate the licence fee for seed technology might have come as a relief to Mahyco Monsanto Biotech Limited (MMBL), but the issues at hand are far from dead. In fact, there are many who believe that this is probably only the first battle in a long-drawn war that would be fought among many stakeholders. The order was essentially over a technical count since the licence fee was based on mutual...

At an October 2013 round table conference organised by the Guardian newspaper in association with the global engineering and environment consultancy URS, it became evident from the discussions that companies were becoming increasingly exposed to risks across their supply chains, either by disruption resulting from climate change or reputational damage. The discussants built up a strong business case for developing sustainable ways of working throughout a company and its supply chain: saving...

In a few weeks from now, possibly during the Budget session of Parliament, the new National Textiles Policy may be announced by the Union ministry of textiles. The textiles and apparel industry has been waiting eagerly for the new policy document, which will replace the existing one of 2000, and hopefully provide industry with a much-needed boost. The 2000 policy is hopelessly outdated, given three major international developments: the phase-out of the Multi Fibre Agreement, the emergence of...

The problem with simplistic arguments is that they invariably either remain speculative at best, or fail to make a point altogether. A classic example of this was the speculation that was fuelled last summer in the backdrop of the Chinese currency being devalued and stocks tumbling the world over. Considerable debates and discussions at that time featured in the Indian media, almost all of them drawing the conclusion that India would make the best of China's declining state of affairs, and forge...