The smiles that lit up the Indian apparel export industry during the last few weeks when the rupee slid against the dollar, is now beginning to fade.

Overseas buyers are now increasingly insisting on a reduction in prices or discount, as they see the margins of Indian exporters rallying in the wake of the rupee slide. Margins for the domestic apparel exporters have risen by about five to seven per cent in recent weeks.

“Now our buyers are asking for a discount. They say that we can pass on a Rs 1-2 per dollar benefit in the current scenario,” a senior office-bearer of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, said.

Exports

The council is, however, optimistic that India’s apparel exports would grow by 15 per cent this fiscal. Last fiscal, there was a drop to $12.7 billion from $13.4 billion due to the global economic slowdown.

“In the last two months, we have seen a 10 per cent growth over the corresponding months of the last fiscal. While the US markets began to pick up, the rupee depreciation also helped push up exports,” A. Sakthivel, Chairman of the council, told Business Line. However, shortage of skilled labour is posing a serious challenge to the industry. The demand for skilled workers is estimated to increase by two million from the existing pool of 12.4 million in the next four years.

Taking up this challenge, the Apparel Training and Design Centre, an apex body under the council, is set to train 2.50 lakh people in the current Plan period. Last fiscal, it trained 60,000 people in various skills including fashion design, apparel making, export merchandising and computer aided design. “We plan to expand our network of training centres from the present 177 to 250 in the next four years,” Darlie Koshy, CEO of the centre, said.

He said those completing the centre’s courses, which range from four weeks to six months, were getting an entry level salary of between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000 a month in the apparel industry.

amitmitra@thehindu.co.in

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