A STITCH IN TIME?
₹10,683 CRORE The budgtary outlay of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme over the next five years
Invesment period is two years; incentive will be paid for five years after first year of post-investment operations
BUTTONS.
If there is one thing that sums up the woes of the Indian textile sector, it’s the buttons. And also thread.
Apparel manufacturers—globally and in India—import buttons from China and Hong Kong, where the more fashionable wooden or engraved ones are made. India mainly makes plastic and nylon buttons. The industrial-grade thread they use comes from one factory that makes it in India—that of Madura Coats in Chennai.
Ravi Kishore, former director of Apparel Export Promotion Council, says this is symbolic of India’s scattered and fragmented textile supply chain, which increases shipping costs, which in turn adds to manufacturing lead times. All these result in the industry struggling to compete with Bangladesh and Vietnam.
An Indian manufacturer takes 90-120 days to ship an order of 20,000-30,000
