Opportunities thanks to the future development of Indian textiles
Dr. Anton Reinfelder, Managing Director of Groz-Beckert Asia Private Ltd., based in Chandigarh (IND) and since 2002 being equipped with its own sewing laboratory, states in an in-house interview that the opportunities for the Indian textile industry outweigh risks and hindrances
He sees the largest potential for future growth of the Indian textile industry in the fact of increasing domestic buying power and the very unusual low average age of 24, and of course in the annual growth of GDP Gross Domestic Product. But he laments about the sluggish development of the infrastructure, insufficient power supply and increasing labour costs of 10 to 15 % annually which makes other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia or Bangladesh more attractive. On the other hand he notes the aim of the textile industry to invest in higher quality machinery and to improve productivity, jointly with a new organisation, for instance of spinning mills by forward integration, adding to productivity and making investment in new technologies indispensable. This allows opportunities to textile machinery manufacturers translating into more shuttleless weaving looms , more investment in textile processing and finishing, now a bottleneck (leading also to an upgrading of textile products), and a promising field for nonwovens both at production level and domestic market opportunities for finished products.
Reinfelder praises also India’s high degree of flexibility that can be witnessed in high fashion items with special designs and these are also produced in small batches. Because English is the common language between buyers and suppliers communication is easy among business partners.
In view to the expectations at the ongoing ITMA Asia + CITME, Reinfelder and Groz-Beckert (D) will use the opportunity to present themselves as a universal specialist for the most important aspects of the weaving process (weaving preparation, weaving machinery components and system supplier), for instance with an new and innovative cleaning plant for weaving preparation.