If the fabric is soft, gentle on the skin, sweat absorbent, elastic as well as classy , it must be an imported brand, right? Probably from Nike, maybe Adidas, or Reebok.
You may be right. But these names haven’t been chosen randomly. These, and some other of the world’s largest retailers — Switcher, Tommy Hilfiger, Wal-Mart, Primark, FILA, H&M, C&A and M&S — go to a small town on the banks of the river Noyyal in South India for their cotton textiles — Tirupur to be exact. The enviable reputation the product of this small town has built up has resulted in nicknames like the ‘Cotton City’ and the ‘Knitwear Capital of India’.
Tirupur, just an hour-and-a-half away from Coimbatore, is one of the largest producers of cotton knitwear in India. Most of the cotton knitwear produced here is exported either directly or through exporters based in metros such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
In 1996, about 75 per cent of the exports from India and 35 per cent of the cotton knitwear sold in the Indian market was produced in Tirupur. In the Export Import Policy, 2002-07, the Centre recognised this, calling Tirupur the ‘Town of Export Excellence’. To support the burgeoning textile industry, special industrial parks — such as Netaji Apparel Park, Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex, SIDCO Industrial Estate, JS Apparel Park — were developed.
Today, the contribution from Tirupur to India’s cotton knitwear exports is a staggering 90 per cent. In 2014-15, it contributed to exports worth more than ₹20,000 crore. It is no wonder that it is often called ‘Dollar City’ as well.
Tirupur provides employment to thousands of people in and around the town. In fact, people from far off, drought-prone villages move to Tirupur to work in the cotton factories. At last count, more than 6 lakh people were employed in the cotton textile industry here.
This ‘cotton city’ was originally an agricultural town. Many owners of the cotton factories have an agricultural background. Over a period of time, crop failure, the availability of high quality yarn, the dry climatic conditions and the predominant presence of black soil — necessary for growing cotton — made the shift inevitable. These ex-farmers came into the cotton and knitting industry, learnt the trade and became small owners, often in family partnerships.
Business culture
The most striking phenomenon in this town is the business culture. Since many of the businesses are family-owned, and the rules and norms governing jobs mostly informal, it has become difficult for the large textile giants to enter Tirupur and create a market share.
In Tirupur, you will not find integrated factories that do fabrication, processing and stitching. Instead, there are several small to mid-sized units engaged in one of these activities. The Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA), established in 1990, represents all major garment exporters in the city. The presence of a strong network within the community enables outsourcing to be done skilfully. As Tirupur emerged as a major textile township, several ‘spin off’spin off industries also cropped up. Textile machinery is one such offshoot.
Ups and downs
As in any other business, there have been ups and downs. The global economic meltdown in 2009 saw exports drop. This was followed by the 2011 Madras High Court order to shut down all dyeing units in Tirupur for violating pollution norms.
This was a serious blow to the cotton knitwear industry. Customer orders had to be fulfilled. Goods were sent to places like Ludhiana and Kolkata for dyeing, but this resulted in delays and a fall in quality. Airlifting the garments to save time — between 2011 and 2014, more than 25-30 per cent of the garments were airlifted — resulted in a 10 per cent price increase of the end product.
As the industry struggled with huge financial problems, thousands of garment unit workers returned to their native places in search of alternative employment. Export turnover stagnated.
But the entrepreneurs of Tirupur are resourceful. They came together to find a solution to the pollution issue. They searched for answers both globally and locally. Based on what they learned, large manufacturers set up Individual Effluent Treatment Plants (IETPs) and smaller manufacturers pooled resources to set up Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs).
These IETPs and CETPs used a three-stage process — usage of bacteria to break down dyes, reverse osmosis to clean the water and evaporation to remove the sludge — to achieve an incredible result. Tirupur became the first textile cluster in India to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge in its production units.
Eco-friendly business
Today, the pioneers of the cotton revolution acknowledge that they had no idea of the harmful environmental impact of untreated effluents when they initially began business in the 1970s. But it is a different matter now. They proudly claim to recycle more than 90 per cent of the water discharged as effluents. This means that about 10 crore litres of water is conserved daily.
Unfortunately, this has resulted in a hike in power usage: prices of the end product have again shot up. Huge debts remain unpaid, with the result that banks may soon take possession of assets. It is said that farmers in surrounding regions are worried about untreated effluent discharge.
But despite the many hurdles, the industry remains buoyant. Exports are expected to touch more than ₹35,000 crore in 2016-17. Speedy implementation of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Europe, Canada and the US is hoped for, as this will bring about a 9-12 per cent cut in import duties in these countries.