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‘Post-2004 is a driving force for industry to put its act together’

Eco norms are getting ever more stringent in textile manufacturing, especially in Europe. In an interview with Reena Mital, Mr Ulhas Nimkar, CEO, Texan Lab, stresses on the need for complying with these norms, to remain in business after 2004.

How good or otherwise is the compliance to eco standards by the Indian textile industry?

Awareness about meeting such norms is spreading very fast, and the industry realises that to compete in the world market, quality, eco parameters, etc are very important today. The post-2004 free trade regime is definitely proving a driving force for the textile industry to put its act together, be it on the ecological front, on cost competitiveness, quality, social norms, etc. The Indian industry has the requisite knowledge base and the facilities to conform to all such international legislations. I strongly believe, before long, all important textile manufacturers and suppliers will have achieved standards that are today important for dealing with foreign buyers.

One reason for the poor compliance at present is the disorganised nature of textile activity in India. The high level of decentralisation leads to loss of information in the supply chain, and thus to non-conformance. For instance, a supplier, who is not necessarily a manufacturer, may get an export order for garments. He in turn, may sub-contract the order to a garment manufacturer, telling him of the eco and quality parameters that have to be met. The sub-contractor will source the fabric, which may come from the decentralised powerloom sector through a trader, who may get the same processed in an independent process house, again in the decentralised sector. With so many breaks in the chain, the information would get distorted at the final stage, and compliance would thus be poor.

This is one reason why international buyers are increasingly demanding that exporters have their own production facilities, to have better control over parameters.

Are the testing facilities in the country equipped to meet the challenges thrown up by the international legislations?

Most definitely. Textile testing facilities in the country are very well equipped, both in the private and government sectors. It was following the ban on azo dyes, that the Textiles Committee, realising that such legislations would become the order of the day, built up a wide network of labs to cater to just about every textile cluster. Similarly, the TRA labs are also doing a lot of good work.

At Texan, I have invested huge amounts to get the latest and best equipment, to conform to the needs of foreign buyers. We have been working with a large number of European and American textile buyers, and are a well-recognised lab internationally. To keep ourselves updated on the latest eco parameters, in the west, I have scheduled training programmes every six months in Hamburg. This helps me to be prepared well in advance to serve the Indian industry, when the legislations do come in.

Are there any new eco or social legislations in the pipeline from the west?

It is not always legislations or laws that are enacted to ban the use of some chemicals, etc, these are more in the form of consumer action. A large number of chemicals, dyestuffs, auxiliaries are being constantly tested in Germany and elsewhere to find out how harmful or safe these would be when in contact with human skin. Besides this, a number of companies in Germany have got their own environment policies, which suppliers have to comply with. For instance, Otto has come out with ‘Future Collections’, its latest version of eco parameters, which are much more stringent than the existing norms.

We usually see the west, and especially Europe, coming out with eco norms, labels, etc. Do other countries also have their own labels?

Yes, some countries do have their eco labels. And again, it is not just the government of a country that comes up with such labels, but companies also start their labels, for instance Migros, which has its own eco parameters. However, most of these are almost similar, with no major differences.

The Indian government had also started an eco label for the textile industry - ‘Matka’, some 10 years ago. This was on similar lines as the Oeko-tex label. However, the same was not really popularised by the government, and the label did not find many takers in the industry.