25-06-2012, 03:19 PM
Garments Industry in India: Some Reflections on Size Distribution of Firms
Paper-5-Garment-Industry-in-India-Some-Reflections-on-Size-Distribution-of-Firms.pdf (Size: 439.93 KB / Downloads: 244)
The context
There has been a significant relocation of global manufacture followed by a restructuring of
global trade in the past two decades. It seems that both in respect to the quantum as well as in
terms of mode of participation in the global production process the role of developing countries
is undergoing change. And this is happening in a world precisely when the growth of
manufacturing value added in developed countries shows a virtual stagnation, i.e., growing at a
low 1.1 per cent per annum while that for developing countries it is 7 per cent. The share of
developed countries in world manufacturing value added declined from 74.3 per cent in 2000 to
69.4 per cent in 2005 (IDR, 2009). The evolving division of labour either through rigid links of
global value chains or by way of specialized trade provides greater scope to developing countries
in contributing to the world manufacturing output.
Garment Sector in India
In 2007 the world apparel market was worth 345 billion US $ and during the last decade the
market grew at an average of 8 per cent per annum. Moreover according to NSS Report on
Household Consumption of Various Goods and Services in India, 2007 between 1993-94 and
2004-05, the proportion of households purchasing readymade garments has increased in both
rural and urban areas by about 75 per cent, while the proportion purchasing hosiery articles
shows a three-fold increase. Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) estimated that in value
terms, the size of the Indian textile market was Rs. 1692952 million in 2007 recording a growth
of 8.81 per cent.
Production organization
Tirupur can be easily identified to the notion of industrial cluster that typifies an organic
relationship between firms both horizontally and vertically is because of the fact of the dense
network of production organization that exists within the region. The production of garments in
the cluster is segmented into separate modules and firms participate in different portions of the
value chain. Everywhere in the small town one can easily notice how activities revolve around
the production and sale of knitwear garments.
Labour Processes
Tirupur garments cluster employs large number of workers who migrate from 18 southern
districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the recent past workers from other parts of India, viz. U.P.
Bihar, Orissa, Manipur, Nagaland and also from Nepal used to come and work in Tirupur.
Women workers are employed in large numbers in exporting units involving them in stitching,
folding, checking and packaging jobs. In the knitting and embroidery workshops the share of
female workers is less but in a large number of firms they do the checking job. There use to be
four basic occupational grades in every unit in Tirupur, viz., helper, machine operator, supervisor
and foreman.