India

Extra charges over carry bags has been an ongoing battle between retailers and consumers. The practice goes back to the time when plastic carry bags slowly started disappearing from stores after the notification of the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. The Rule, only for plastic bags, soon became the norm for all carry bags. What’s right or wrong? texfash.com explores.

Primark's Sustainable Cotton Programme trains farmers on using fewer chemical pesticides and fertilisers and less water, thus lowering input costs and improving profits for farmers. The retailer has now announced that it will train an additional 125,000 smallholder cotton farmers in more sustainable farming methods in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh by the end of 2023.

India has been furiously negotiating deals ever since the RCEP came into force earlier this year. Initial rounds of negotiations on FTA and other trade policies with several countries should hopefully ensure a handful of agreements by 2024. A texfash.com report.

The big picture is that China, once a dominant player, is under pressure and buyers are desperately looking to diversify risks. India has suddenly become important as it is the only other place with a large vertically integrated textile chain, but does not have the huge capacities. Sarbajit Ghose, Managing Director of Laguna Clothing, does some hard talk as he takes a 360-degree view of how sourcing works.

The existing Foreign Trade Policy of India is outdated by two years, but given the global trade situation—first hit and then exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—is showing no signs of improving, it might be a while before a new FTP sees the light of day. Meanwhile, can India do something to brand itself as an attractive sourcing destination? Buying agents weigh in.

The apparel sourcing experience in India is entirely a function of the kind of product one is procuring, and knowing where to get it from. A mismatch can lead to a total washout of the order, while knowledge and experience could totally alter that exercise.

Oil crisis, rising cotton prices, stagnating growth — too many factors at play now, some interconnected, others having a cascading effect this way or that — all these put buying agents in an unenviable position as they need to deal with two sides of the manufacturer-brand equation, in the backdrop of US sanctions on Russia.

The force majeure cancellations and payment battles that socked Indian exports after the first 2020 lockdown are mostly a thing of the past. But if Indian industry has to rise from the COVID-19 ashes, it will have to boost capacities and need the requisite resources too.

The importance of the textiles-apparel sector in terms of share in manufacturing has been growing over the years, but its share in global apparel exports has been more or less stagnant, even falling marginally at the last count. If India has to become a global sourcing destination, a cursory look at the backdrop is paramount.

The 3G Tailor Training System is implemented by training of dedicated trainers inside a garment factory so that they can train others as per the skill requirements of the factory.