Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department
Handlooms and Textiles
POLICY NOTE - 2006 - 2007
Demand No. 17
1. INTRODUCTION
The Textile Industry of Tamil Nadu has a significant presence in the National and State economy. It is the forerunner in Industrial development and in providing massive employment in the State. Handloom, Powerloom, Spinning, Processing, Garment and Hosiery are the various sectors of the Textile Industry in Tamil Nadu. It is the largest economic activity next only to Agriculture in providing direct and indirect employment.
Handloom Sector occupies a place of pride in preserving the country's heritage and culture and plays a vital role in the economy of the country. It has a long tradition par excellence in its craftsmanship. The Powerloom Sector in Tamil Nadu has also been playing an important role in meeting the clothing needs of the people. The Powerloom Sector in Tamil Nadu is next only to Maharashtra in terms of number of looms.
The Textiles Sector in Tamil Nadu is predominantly in the private sector, spinning oriented and labour-intensive because of the preponderance of the decentralized sector in most of the segments of the industry. The Textile Industry has a very important role to play in the industrial field with regard to employment potential, overall economic and commercial activities. This Industry enables the Central and State Governments to earn substantial revenue besides foreign exchange through exports.
2. ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT
The primary object of the Department of Handlooms and Textiles is to promote the harmonious growth of Handloom, Powerloom and Textile Sectors and to strive for the welfare of all concerned particularly that of the weavers and workers.
The Director of Handlooms and Textiles is the "Functional Registrar" for the Handloom and Powerloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies and other Cooperative Institutions connected with the Industry throughout the State and is vested with powers delegated under the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act and Rules.
The Director of Handlooms and Textiles also functions as the "State Textile Authority" and as such has a general responsibility to facilitate the smooth functioning of the Spinning and Textile Mills, Hosiery units, Handlooms and Powerlooms. The Department has the overall responsibility for ensuring the availability of rawmaterials to all sectors of the industry, augmenting the production of yarn and fabrics at reasonable prices as well as creating an environment to promote the sale of end products. The Department has a special responsibility for the supply of yarn and other raw materials to the Weavers' Cooperative Societies and arranging for marketing of the finished products through Co-optex, Loom World, Society's own showrooms and other selling outlets.
The Department of Handlooms and Textiles also promotes the Socio-economic well-being of the weavers and is incharge of implementing various welfare and developmental schemes for their welfare through 18 circle Deputy Directors / Assistant Directors of Handlooms and Textiles.
Various Institutions functioning under the administrative control of the Department are as follows:-
3. HANDLOOM SECTOR
As per the 1987 Handloom Census, there are 4.29 lakh Handlooms in Tamil Nadu. Out of which, 2.17 lakh are under Cooperative societies. Handloom Industry in Tamil Nadu provides employment for a population of about 6.63 lakh. Out of these, 2.64 lakh are in the Cooperative Societies. As on 31.03.2006, there are a total of 1232 Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies in Tamil Nadu almost evenly spread over both rural and urban clusters.
The average annual production of handloom cloth in the State is about 2500 lakh metres, of which, contribution made by handloom cooperatives is around 1200 lakh meters. Average annual sales of handloom cloth is Rs.1500 crore, of which, the sales by handloom cooperatives accounts for Rs.700 crore. The average annual export of handloom cloth by Tamil Nadu is Rs.600 crore, of which export sales by Handloom cooperatives through Merchant Export is around Rs.260 crore.
In the context of opening up of global textiles market, the approach of the Government is to 'sustain the handloom industry' and 'continue to provide livelihood to the Lakhs of weavers who depend on this activity'. This requires constant skill upgradation to produce marketable products, technology upgradation to increase the productivity and to maintain quality to compete in the world market besides product diversification through continuous design interventions. All the above measures will ensure sustenance of the industry.
4. POWERLOOM SECTOR
There are 4.50 lakh Powerlooms in Tamil Nadu, providing employment to about 9.14 lakh workers. Out of this, 32,087 Powerlooms are under cooperative sector.
The Powerloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies mainly produce the cloth required for the Scheme of Free supply of Sarees and Dhoties and Scheme of Free supply of Uniforms to School Children. The average annual cloth production by Powerloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies is around 1000 lakh metres valued at Rs.160 crore.
The Powerloom Industry faces two major challenges at present - one pertains to "low productivity" and the other relates to "Low level of skills of the persons engaged" in the Industry. Therefore, the Government will act as a facilitator to provide appropriate infrastructure at enhancing productivity and skills. The infusion of 'upgraded technology looms' and establishment of more number of 'hi-tech powerloom weaving parks' are likely to ensure these. Large-scale training will be imparted to the persons to meet the requirement of the industry. All these measures will ensure generation of gainful employment and would also enhance productivity.
5. TEXTILE SECTOR
(i) Textile Mills
Textile sector in Tamil Nadu has been a forerunner in providing massive employment, and it is 'predominantly spinning-oriented' and that too of cotton spinning. There are 2950 large, medium and small spinning Mills in India, of which, 1734 Mills are located in Tamil Nadu. These include 18 Cooperative Spinning Mills, 8 National Textile Corporation Mills and 26 Composite Mills. The spinning capacity of these Mills is 16.44 million spindles with a labour force of about 2.31 lakh. The quantity of yarn produced by this State is slightly more than one third of the total yarn production in the country.
During the year 2004-05, 3223.52 million kg. of yarn was produced in the country, of which, Tamil Nadu contributed 1261.98 million kg. of yarn. Successively this State is the No.1 producer of various varieties of yarn in the country.
The Government will devise suitable measures to facilitate that the Textile Industry grows at the rate of 18% per annum. The Government will also take efforts to address the labour laws related issues aiming at achieving the above growth. The required skilled labour force will be generated by creating new infrastructure and also by strengthening the existing ones.
(ii) Cooperative Spinning Mills
In Tamil Nadu, 18 Cooperative Spinning Mills were setup between 1958 to 1985 with spindle capacity of 4.70 lakh with the object of supplying good quality yarn at reasonable rates to meet the requirement of hank yarn by the Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies and cone yarn by the Powerloom Weavers' Cooperative Societies.
Out of 18 Cooperative Spinning Mills set up in Tamil Nadu, the following 5 Cooperative Spinning Mills are functioning at present.
- 1. Bharathi Cooperative Spinning Mills, Ettayapuram
2. Anna Cooperative Spinning Mills, Andipatti
- 3. Dharmapuri District Cooperative Spinning Mills, Uthangarai
4. Pudukottai District Cooperative Spinning Mills, Aranthangi
- 5. Kanyakumari District Cooperative Spinning Mills, Aralvaimozhi
6. GARMENTS AND HOSIERY SECTOR
The Garment sector is one of the fast growing segments of the Textile Industry in Tamil Nadu. There are about 400 garment units in the State providing employment to about 2 lakh persons contributing Rs.2500 crore in foreign exchange.
In Hosiery sector in the State, most of the units are located in Coimbatore District. There are about 8000 hosiery units in India, of which 4000 units are located in Tamil Nadu. The hosiery sector in Tamil Nadu is providing large scale employment to around 3 lakh persons and contributes 44% of Country's export. It contributes about Rs.8000 crore in foreign exchange.
7. PROCESSING SECTOR
Processing is an important value added segment in the Textile Sector. There are about 10397 Hand Processing Units and 2510 Power Processing Units in India, of which, 2614 Hand Processing Units and 985 Power Processing Units are located in Tamil Nadu. Out of 985 Power Processing Units in the State, 713 Units are located in Tiruppur.
The availability of processing facilities is inadequate and also the technology adopted is low since most of these units are of hand processing type.
The State Government is taking initiative to set up one exclusive Processing Park at Cuddalore under the Scheme of Integrated Textile Park launched by Government of India. SIPCOT has allotted 300 acres of land for this purpose and the works have commenced.
Environmental and Human Resource Development issues:-
To attain the growth rate at 18% in textile sector as envisaged in the National Textile Policy 2000, it is necessary to create a conducive atmosphere by providing:- (i) Good environment ; and (ii) Adequate skilled manpower to the growing industry.
Since, water is required in plenty for the processing units situated in and around Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Karur, etc., it is necessary to adopt appropriate technology. Therefore, the focus of the Government will be to identify and bring in appropriate technology to sort out environmental issues in consultation with the industry stakeholders.
Training
Thanks to the liberalization of global trade, the demand for the Indian Textile goods has increased manifold. Textile units have started installing Modern Hi-Tech machineries to increase the production capacity and also to meet the international standards in quality. This necessitates supply of skilled manpower in more numbers to the textile industry.
Government will take suitable steps to start training courses covering the process of ginning to finishing in Textiles Sector in the existing Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics to meet the growing demand of the Sector and the rural youth-particularly in the Southern and Backward Districts will be trained and suitably accommodated in the textile units, across the State.
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