Tejas N Patel, Navin D Patel
MD & Chairman respectively Bright Weaves Pvt Ltd
Without modernisation difficult to beat China & Vietnam
Founded
in 1999 by Navin Patel in the name of Tejas Fabrics with 100 powerlooms, Bright
Weaves Pvt Ltd has grown to increase its capacity to 500 today using modern
weaving technologies like waterjet looms. Tejas N Patel, MD and Navin D Patel,
Chairman share their thoughts on GST, NTP and future plans at the company.
What is the market size for grey fabrics and polyester fabrics? At what rate it is increasing?
According to our sources, Surat produces 4 crore metres of grey fabrics every day. This includes polyester, nylon, bemberg, spun yarn, etc. It was growing at 20 per cent annually during the peak period. But, over the last two years the figures have heavy declined to 8 per cent due to many factors affecting the industry.
How will the revised GST rates affect the weaving industry?
There was some short-term slowdown. But on the whole industry will see greater and positive impacts. There are some discrepancies like the GST rates and procedural problems, which occur everywhere when GST is implemented. But, in the long run all segments of the textiles industry including the weaving sector will bear the fruits of the GST regime and prosper. Unwanted competition and malpractices will perish, which will be advantageous to both the industry and the government.
What are your expectations and suggestion for the National Textile Policy (NTP)?
The policy must be industry-friendly and must boost the production and sales and exports. It is needless to mention that India is a nation of MSMEs, and therefore their existence and interests must be kept in mind when the textiles policy is designed.
What measures should be taken for India to be in the same league of Vietnam, China and Bangladesh?
The winds of globalisation and technology modernisation came to India very late, in 1999, when the government designed and implemented TUFS policy. Even after the announcement of TUFS, the industry started adapting very late. Now, the rate of modernisation is in full swing. Therefore, it would be difficult to beat or even compete with counterparts like China and Vietnam since they are ahead of us when it comes to modern technology. Bangladesh is a trading and export hub. India needs to gear up and set short and long-term goals to boost its market share.
Which are your main markets for grey and polyester fabrics?
India is our main market, and we are doing our best to expand the current product mix.
In which regions do you face the maximum competition?
At present, our selling is limited to major cities, but we are trying to sell in other medium-sized towns and then penetrate into the garments sector.
What is the annual production capacity of fabrics at your company? Where do you source raw material from?
We produce approximately one million metres of grey fabric per month. We source raw material locally as it is easily available.
What is the budget allocated towards R&D annually? What kind of innovative fabrics are developed at your company's unit?
We have a very ambitious development programme. A part of this goes to strengthen in-house R&D facilities. Initially, we decided to contribute 2 per cent of our turnover for R&D. This is a key factor that helps us compete locally as well as match export objectives.
What are the challenges that you face as a fabric manufacturer?
In the Surat region, we have a greater know-how of grey fabrics. But, with growing development in the region there is an increasing problem of over-production. Smalls-scale weavers don't have adequate funds and facilities to understand fashion patterns, demand of fabrics in volume at certain places, season and time. Due to financial constraints, they can't hire big forecasting agencies to assist them. So, some arrangements must be made by authorities to support small and medium entrepreneurs.
What are your future plans at Bright Weaves?
We plan to modernise our facility, and work towards future expansion. Apart from that, we are also planning to strengthen our R&D facilities and quality control. All this is required to boost our sales in the domestic and export markets.
Published on: 16/01/2018
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.
