The Hindu Business Line : Dressing up global homes

When all other textile manufacturing centres in Tamil Nadu had till recently chosen to remain content with producing and selling generic yarn or fabrics, at least two textile clusters — Karur and Tirupur — dared to bet on a diverse product profile to command bigger overseas markets.

While Tirupur chose the knitted garment route, neighbouring Karur plunged into home textiles. Both targeted the export market in the late 1970s and the rest, as they say, is history. The entrepreneurship of Tirupur and Karur is now paying great dividends, thanks to the removal of textile quotas under the WTO regime which has opened up the international markets to these textile clusters in a big way. And what sets apart Karur's success story is the fact that it has all along remained `low-profile'.

Despite remaining far from the media glare, Karur's home textile industry has managed to command the attention of buyers of premium home textiles in Europe and, of late, America too. In fact, importers in America are keen to expand their business in Karur products, as several US-based home textiles manufacturers have either scaled down production or closed down under the impact of the globalised textile trade.

Even domestic sales look up with the growing awareness among the Indian middle class on household textiles and their willingness to go for frequent replacements, says Mr Susindran, chief executive officer of Sabare International, a multi-location home textile company headquartered in Karur which suppliesto leading retailers worldwide.

And the rise in business prospects has spurred investments in the Karur textile industry. "Karur-based textile companies are right now involved with capacity building. Many are also going in for integrated production facilities, as buyers are more inclined to place orders with only those who have manufacturing facility," says Mr R. Natarajan, secretary of the 65-year-old Karur Weaving and Knitting Factory Owners Association. Lack of production infrastructure has forced Karur manufacturers to turn to job-working units in Erode and Namakkal. "At times 50 per cent of the production is done through job-working units," says Mr Natarajan.

Karur's home-textiles are broadly classified as handlooms and largely comprise kitchen, dining, bed and bath linens. Wall-hangings and bedcovers made of finer count fabrics command premium prices and niche exports, especially in Scandinavian countries. While direct exports of home textiles from Karur are said to be worth about Rs 1,500 crore per annum, the volume of indirect exports through other centres is estimated to be Rs 1,000 crore.

"There is need for an integrated common processing facility which will take care of the industrial water and effluent treatment. A modern textile processing park will be an answer," says Mr M.P. Ramasamy, secretary of the Federation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs), Karur. The federation runs eight CETPs to treat effluents discharged by over 400 dyeing houses in Karur but its plans to achieve the `0' discharge norm hang in balance owing to the high investment cost of Rs 102 crore for a reverse osmosis system capable of treating 20 million litre per day.

Karur exporters supply home furnishings largely as per the designs handed out by the importers. It needs to have its own design development centre. Although in the short term, Karur home textiles face stiff competition from China on prices, in the long run it would claim greater global market share with adequate infrastructure in place, he adds.