Contents
1 History of Indian Textile Industry………………………………………………….. 1
2 Description of India’s Textile and Apparel Sector…………………………… 13
3 Structure of India’s Textile and Apparel Sector……………………………… 17
3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………. 17
3.2 India’s Organized Textile Sector: Performance and Employment…………………………………………………………………….. 19
3.3 Performance of India’s Unorganized Textile Sector 26
3.3.1 Capital Productivity 30
3.3.2 Capital Intensity 33
3.3.3 Labour Productivity 34
3.4 Domestic Consumption of Textiles in India 36
3.5 Conclusions 43
4 Environmental Issues…………………………………………………………………….. 47
4.1 Literature Review 48
4.2 Methodology 50
4.2.1 Steps Involved for the Multi-scenario Analysis 50
4.2.2 Assumptions Involved in the Multi-scenario Analysis 51
4.2.3 Steps Involved in the AHP-Based Ranking of the Dyes 52
4.3 Results 53
4.3.1 Emission Levels of Different Dyes 53
4.3.2 LEAP Results of the Scenario Analysis 53
4.4 Conclusions 61
References 63
Preface
In this century, India and China have risen as the major emerging economies of the world, apart from Brazil and Russia. Among these, India is poised to sustain as the fastest growing economy in the world according to several forecasts including that by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hence, studying the Indian economy is essential to understand the future of the global economy.
Although India is better known globally in recent times for its information technology and services sector, agriculture and manufacturing are still major parts of India’s economy, more so than the services sector. The new Indian government, sworn-in in mid-2014, has vowed to rejuvenate the manufacturing sector through efforts such as the ‘Make in India’ campaign to promote investment and production in Indian manufacturing, and ‘Mudra Bank’ for small-scale investment.
Within the manufacturing industry, the textile and apparel sector is a major contributor to India’s employment, GDP and export earnings. Various structural changes have occurred in this sector over the past two decades in India, at global and national policy levels. In this book, I discuss various economic and environmental policy issues in this significant sector in the Indian economy, which in turn plays a major role in the global economy.
This book is expected to benefit people from several walks of life, including industrialists, economists, environmental scientists, public policy enthusiasts and analysts, other social scientists and academicians, and students of several subjects in policy, business and economy. In short, anyone with some inclination towards policy studies in developing countries in general, and trade, industrial, environmental and economic policies in particular, may possibly find this book quite useful even if they do not have specific interest in the textile and apparel industry. Having curated the usefulness and relevance of the topic of this book into a broad perspective, with the target audience also in mind, a synthesis of the whole book is provided. Chapter 1 discusses the historical developments in the textile and apparel industries and links them with the current structure of these industries. This chapter details the historical aspects, starting from ancient times until modern times, of the textile industry in India. The objective is to understand how the features of the industry today are related to the features of past. Specific observations that link the present with the past are included, considering both the policies and structure of the industry.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the technological aspects of this sector, including its definition and scope. It also deals with an overview of the economic structure of Indian textile and apparel industries. Statistics on Indian textile and apparel industries are reviewed to make inferences on their overall economic structure.
Chapter 3 presents an economic and social overview of the Indian textile and apparel sector. It covers four broad areas: employment, the unorganized sector, trade liberalization and demand. Trade in textiles was opened up on two counts in India. Firstly, the external restrictions of export quotas (MFA or the Multi-Fiber Arrangement) were removed in 2005, in phases since 1995. Secondly, India has been reducing barriers on most of its imports since 1991. Both of these have had profound impacts on the Indian textile industry, as discussed in this chapter. I also discuss vulnerable sections in the textile industry, focusing on the unorganized or informal sector that is huge in the Indian textile industry. I analyze some facts and figures and compare the organized and unorganized sectors. This chapter also discusses the employment issues and policy aspects. As the second largest employer in India, the textile industry has huge implications for its industrial and labour policies. This chapter covers these aspects. I further focus on the demand-side factors. While a lot has been discussed about the supply-side aspects, demand for textiles is a major issue. There has been genuine concern among policymakers and academicians that the textile industry in India is constrained by domestic demand.
Chapter 4 elaborates on the environmental issues in this sector. While every chapter in this book has an environmental dimension, this chapter focuses exclusively on these issues through a review of literature and with some fresh analysis.