The India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the apparel industry, expected to be signed by March 2012, is likely to push the domestic players to adopt international best practices.
Industry experts expect a ‘wave', similar to the radical changes brought in by abolishing of the quota system (where each exporter had a given quota of exports to every importer) once the FTA is signed, and see the need to move towards focusing more on management and professionalism alongside focus on training skilled labour.
“We are now beginning to look at whether the industry is ready for this wave,” Mr Avinash Misar, CEO and Director, Texport Syndicate Ltd, told
“The industry, which is the second largest revenue earner at $12 billion, after IT, has the potential to grow to about $20 billion, but one of the major constraints to quick growth is the conventional approach to industry practices,” Mr Misar said.
According to Mr Misar, with institutes such as the NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology), and several institutes offering courses on apparel technology, the labour-intensive industry does not face a shortage of hands for managerial jobs.
Management programme
To address this gap, Texport Syndicate, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bangalore, has organised a three-day Management Development Programme for employees of Texport that is investing about Rs 14 lakh on the programme.
“The programme now is customised for Texport, and we are open to conducting such specialised management programmes for other export companies,” Mr Mathew J. Manimala of IIM-Bangalore, developer of the programme, said.