Even as we welcome the New Year with its vivacious colours, wishing a bright future for
the industry, my sincere advice is that the quicker we forget about the happenings of
last year and move on to chart a new growth path, the better and wiser it would be for
all of us.
Yet, recalling the eventful year gone by and the manifold jolts it gave to the industry, I
am in a way unable to drive myself out of its dominant impacts. First, the demonetisation
which seeped the entire liquid fund from the market and then the imposition of GST
which blocked whatever money was left and now the hammer on duty drawback...; of
course, not to forget the external impediments of price squeeze by the buyers and loworder
volume.
In all fairness, it seems that the entire last year was spent on matters which were not productive, but rather disruptive.
Moving ahead, we would be required to take many bold steps to stop the downward trajectory, the first among them would be to give the reigns of the industry into the hands of the younger generation… It’s high time we understand and appreciate that there are companies which do not hire employees who are more than 35 years of age, and even retire them at 52. Employees of such companies are even given the privilege of bringing in new and innovative ways of working, not training them to think in old ways.
In what can be called a massive shift in the thought process, you have to permit these young Turks the scope to make alterations which at the onset might seem difficult to accept…But on honest analysis, the realisation soon dawns that there is merit in it.
Metro cities from where we have been operating for a long time is our comfort zone; we should certainly endeavour to move to smaller cities to take advantage of the low wages and also taxation incentives offered by the State Governments. We have some successful examples in the industry itself; just look around you.
We should also seriously start catering to the domestic market as well..., operationalize our sewing lines in such a way that they can service both the domestic as well as export customers. In not so far future, you will find that the international brands operating in India have started procuring from the Indians as well as from markets closer home.
Reflecting upon examples of several international stores closing down due to their reluctance to source from India, we earnestly need to pull up our socks and stretch our flexibility level to produce what the Indian customers want. If the industry needs to survive, it needs to make large investment on warehousing and manufacturing in India.
These are just some of the short goals of a long journey where we need to create brands and a stamp of quality for our products. A vision quite similar to what has been done by Italy, France or closer home in SriLanka. The driver now is value-based branding even though quantities may not be large.
This first issue of the new year, RELIVE 2017, takes the readers through a retrospect journey of the various subjects which were in focus last year. These can be aptly summed under eight core areas – People, Technology 4.0, Production Management, Human Resource Management, Product Management, Production Technology, Information Technology and Event.
In all fairness, it seems that the entire last year was spent on matters which were not productive, but rather disruptive.
Moving ahead, we would be required to take many bold steps to stop the downward trajectory, the first among them would be to give the reigns of the industry into the hands of the younger generation… It’s high time we understand and appreciate that there are companies which do not hire employees who are more than 35 years of age, and even retire them at 52. Employees of such companies are even given the privilege of bringing in new and innovative ways of working, not training them to think in old ways.
In what can be called a massive shift in the thought process, you have to permit these young Turks the scope to make alterations which at the onset might seem difficult to accept…But on honest analysis, the realisation soon dawns that there is merit in it.
Metro cities from where we have been operating for a long time is our comfort zone; we should certainly endeavour to move to smaller cities to take advantage of the low wages and also taxation incentives offered by the State Governments. We have some successful examples in the industry itself; just look around you.
We should also seriously start catering to the domestic market as well..., operationalize our sewing lines in such a way that they can service both the domestic as well as export customers. In not so far future, you will find that the international brands operating in India have started procuring from the Indians as well as from markets closer home.
Reflecting upon examples of several international stores closing down due to their reluctance to source from India, we earnestly need to pull up our socks and stretch our flexibility level to produce what the Indian customers want. If the industry needs to survive, it needs to make large investment on warehousing and manufacturing in India.
These are just some of the short goals of a long journey where we need to create brands and a stamp of quality for our products. A vision quite similar to what has been done by Italy, France or closer home in SriLanka. The driver now is value-based branding even though quantities may not be large.
This first issue of the new year, RELIVE 2017, takes the readers through a retrospect journey of the various subjects which were in focus last year. These can be aptly summed under eight core areas – People, Technology 4.0, Production Management, Human Resource Management, Product Management, Production Technology, Information Technology and Event.
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