There are a lot of investments taking place in garments today, and if our share in the global market goes up slightly from three per cent to four per cent, these capacities will not be enough. Yes, it is true that investments are not happening to the desired levels in the upstream chain, and especially in weaving and processing, which will need to feed the demand of the garment export sector. However, I believe that the industry is only waiting for a clearer picture after 2004, and investments will pick up. The industry is waking up very late in the global race, but there is still a lot of hope. The Indian textile industry has not lost its entrepreneurial skills. The Indian entrepreneur has emerged successful even in the most adverse situations, and will do so now also. Most of the textile companies have already got in place strategies for facing the post-quota era.

I think there is a lack of entrepreneurship, lack of real management talent, in the textile industry today, which is hampering growth. The industry keeps talking about absence of a conducive business environment and policies which are an obstacle to investing in this sector. I believe that businesses create the right kind of environment, and not the government alone. The industry keeps cribbing about the labour laws, the irrational tax structures, etc, but these are issues that every industry faces. So, why is there so much activity in the automobile, IT and other sectors. And whatever investments are taking place in textiles, these are not really sufficient, and are just small capacity adjustments. There are no global scale capacities coming up, which is the need of the hour. There is no concrete business strategy in place even now, and its already very late.