Modis take on textile sector A placebo or reality?

Policies have derailed and assisted the leaders to win hearts of the compatriots. This grants policies an exclusive place in not only development of a nation, but also in the political scene. The strategies shared by the politicians prior to a critical event can thus give a proper structure to a sector. In India, policies and schemes of one such political leader Narendra Modi, have often been examined and followed closely by experts. Modi's interest with regard to textile sector appears promising and the Indian textile sector might experience a major breakthrough internationally if things go as per plans.

Modi has assured to create more jobs in the labour intensive textile sector, which has been welcomed by several entrepreneurs in the country. A developing country like India has often struggled to create jobs in textile sector, as the main concern has always been the size of investment and not the number of jobs an investment can create. Modi's strong record in textile sector in the state of Gujarat, which is one of the role-model states in India, vouches for the fact that it would be his agenda to introduce labour reforms, as the old laws are not in compliance with today. Providing cheap land to the textile industries, supplying uninterrupted power to the industries and extending world-class infrastructural facilities are what the textile sector is expecting from this leader.

Also in a recent Tweet, Modi mentioned about reviving the jute industry in India, which is a good news for the textile sector as well. Jute products in textile sector are fairly common on this side of Asia. The trick lies in promoting the industry at national as well as global platform, and India's Gujarat state has become an example in promoting the textile industry at various levels and a lot of credit for this goes to Modi, who has successfully created an industrial friendly ambiance in the state during his tenure as the state's chief minister for more than a decade. The efforts of Modi government in the state have been recognised by Goldman Sachs, which raised India's rating to market weight from underweight following possibility of change in governance in 2014 and mentioned in the report that if other Indian states improved the manufacturing employment to levels accomplished in Gujarat, India is likely to create 40 million industrial jobs in the coming ten years.

However, there are some think tanks not only in India, but around the world that have emphasised that the much-hyped 'Gujarat model' in India works on the idea of capital intensive industries. Experts also feel that altering the old labour laws is a humungous task and cannot be done without much opposition from the textile labour forces. If at all possible, it would take a minimum of three to four years, thus it is a remote thought. Another point in case is that the state has generated jobs, but not as expected. Some reviewers have also weighed the performance of BJP led NDA government. During NDA reign between the period of 1998 and 2004, not much success was recorded as far as labour reforms go. Considering this many worldwide experts are skeptic if Modi or BJP coming to power would make much difference for the textile sector especially with regard to creating jobs.

Barring some raised eyebrows over the promotion of labour intensive industries for creating more jobs, overall picture for textile sector seems encouraging if Modi comes to power in India. The reason for this being Modi's business-friendly policies that have granted much economic success to Gujarat and till date under Modi's guidance the state boasts to be among very few states that have registered staggering growth rates in much less time.