There is a need for superhighway connecting India and Bangladesh
India-based Bhaskar Industries is a vertically integrated denim mill, which since its establishment in 1998 has remained focused and responsive to the demands of the jeans industry. The company is known for consistency in quality, timely delivery and keeping pace with the changing fashion trends. At the recently concluded Gartex Texprocess India, a comprehensive tradeshow on garment & textile machinery, Fibre2Fashion spoke to Bhaskar Industries’ Business Head Subir Mukherjee about high cotton prices, eco-friendly denim and government support.
Cotton prices are currently at a record high both in domestic and international markets. How is this affecting the Indian denim industry?
The trouble is for everyone in the industry. For the last one year, excluding last 3-4 months, the spinners were making good money, as yarn prices went up very high. The current situation as of today is that 29 mm is selling at ₹1 lakh a candy of 356 kg. So, the complete value chain is in a serious trouble. This requires finding alternate solution, alternate fibre or using 11 ounce or 10.5 ounce. While manufacturers have a high stake, retailers and brands have a bigger stake as what they buy today, they will be selling in 6-8 months’ time. Everyone is actually scared about consumers’ behaviour. The question is will they be able to afford the current price level. It is a very peculiar situation for the complete cotton value chain and fashion retail. We do not know what the trend of cotton price will be once arrival of new crop begins in October.
Indigo dyes are integral to making denims. With concerns over sustainability rising every day, do you foresee more use of eco-friendly dyes? By when can we expect all denim production to go 100 per cent eco-friendly?
Making denim 100 per cent eco-friendly means destroying denim, which is never going to happen. Of course, there’s a worry about indigo not being very eco-friendly as it discharges colour all through its life, but that’s what indigo is. If we have to walk on the path of ecological or social sustainability, and environment sustainability in specific, there are many other ways to look at it. One way is selling lesser number of pairs of jeans, i.e., instead of buying two pairs, if I buy one and half, it will be more eco-friendly because we are finally reducing the load onto the waste cycle. All the brands should work together to ensure that the quality is good to last longer. They should sell less quantity, and price it reasonably. Since businesses operate for making profit, which is not going to go away, they should learn to make the same amount of profit by selling less quantity, increasing price, and making reliable and long-lasting products—which will be true sustainability. Companies can no longer get away by using sulphur, which again has some other challenges.
What is the size of denim market in India? At what rate is it growing?
In India, denim fabric manufacturing capacity today is 1.7 billion metres, which is the installed capacity, but what is actually getting produced is not more than one and a half billion metres annually. New investment for capacity expansion is not happening anymore because for the last five years we had a huge excess capacity available, and it is not getting used anywhere. For the next 1-2 years, I don’t see more investment pouring in. Denim market in India is expected to go up by 4-5 per cent for the next 2-3 years.
What is your present denim capacity? Do you have any plans to increase the same because of increasing demand?
We are as of now capable of producing 4 million metres per month and we are thinking of investing in one more dyeing line as we have not invested in dyeing since last 15 years. In fact, we have modified our current existing dyeing line to get more out of it. It used to be 3.5 million metres earlier and now we can dye about 4 million metres. We will be investing one more dyeing line in next 12 months.
What are your expectations from the present government in terms of policy support for making denim industry more competitive?
Denim fabric produced in India is not only meant for the domestic market but for the global market too. Bangladesh is our best partner for going global. Though it is our neighbour, it takes minimum 30 days for fabric to reach from the Indian mill to factory in Bangladesh. But, from Shanghai in China it takes less time to reach an apparel factory in Bangladesh. So, my only request to the Indian government is to build a superhighway connecting India and Bangladesh, as that will make a huge difference to the Indian textile industry. Even if the government reduces one per cent of the incentives that it currently provides and gives a guaranteed logistics time of five days from Bangladesh to anywhere in India, it will add a lot more value.
Published on: 31/05/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
