Some perspectives in handloom and powerloom textile industry - a case study

Textile industry is the single largest foreign exchange earner for India, accounting for about 8% of GDP, 20 % of the industrial production and over 30 % of export earnings, employing 38 million people with only 2-3 % import intensity. It is the second largest sector providing employment after agriculture. India´s contribution to production of cotton textiles in the world has increased to 15% from 12% in a decade. However, growth of the textile industry has been stunted by technological obsolescence, fragmented structure, low productivity and low end quality products. The structure of the industry is varied and deep-rooted and its reformation is daunting task. Stagnation in demand, inability to expand, inadequate working capital, increased cost of input, with highly contaminated cotton has deepened the crises. Hence, Indian textiles are getting squeezed out of the global scene. It is largely unseen, with the decentralised powerloom and handloom sectors accounting for the bulk of textile industries. The paper discusses about the status of handloom & powerloom industry in the region, which has about 22,000 handlooms and 6,000 powerlooms and are major contributors of economy of Karnataka state in India. It probes into the operational management of handloom sectors and identifies the issues for effective strategic management.