A delegation from Surat on a recent visit to Chinese textile companies Qingdao Haijia and Jiangyin Huafang, found Chinese textiles maintain competitiveness due to greater efficiency and a strong work culture resulting in higher productivity and quality.
The competitiveness surprised them as the Chinese labor cost is much higher than in India. Surat’s textile industry believes it can also compete effectively with govt support.
A delegation comprising 45 textile entrepreneurs from Surat recently visited China to find out the secret of Chinese textiles competition. However, the Surat-based textile industry is confident that it can compete effectively with higher efficiency if it receives government support.
Ashish Gujarati, president of the Pandesara Weavers Cooperative Society said the labour costs have risen in China due to industrialization and economic growth, but are offset by higher efficiency and good work culture. Against Chinese production efficiency of around 95 percent, India’s efficiency level reaches a maximum of 85 percent. He admitted that the work culture in China is excellent, leading to good-quality products for export or domestic sales.
Other advantages that China enjoys are lower interest rates on loans compared to India, and stable prices of raw materials contribute to a conducive environment for textile manufacturers. The cost of power is comparable to India.
Due to strained relations between China and the US and other Western countries, the brands are looking towards other countries as additional supplier sources. India was considered one of the countries to take a major share of Chinese textile exporters. Indian entrepreneurs indicate that Chinese exporters possess sufficient capacity to compete with exporters from India and other countries.
The tour was organized by Qingdao Haijia Machinery Ltd a Taiwan-based company and a major producer of weaving machinery that has a market in Surat, India. The delegation of 45 entrepreneurs visited its plant in China. The also went Jiangyin Huafang New Technology & Scientific Research Company Ltd, manufactures fully automatic direct warping machines and sectional warping machines. They observed that textile machine manufacturing companies in China have fully automated robotics plants.
The delegation consisted of investors that produce home textiles in India, besides, technical textiles, and high-fashion ladies’ garment fabric. The Surat delegation is expected to prepare a comprehensive report on the findings of this visit and suggest ways to take steps to make Indian textiles more efficient. The Indians still believe that with the right government support Indians could compete with the Chinese.
China maintain a competitive edge in textiles over India
