INDUSTRY PROFILE Cotton is the most widely produced textile fabric today. It is believed that India was the first country to manufacture cotton. Among the finds at Mohenjodaro are a few scarps of cotton sticking to the side of a silver vase. This at least shows that cotton must have been used in India as far back as the 2nd millennium BC. Historically painted and printed cotton cloths are known to have been sold in Egypt and some parts of Europe long before the time of Alexander. (300BC). Cotton is soft fibre, probably the most important and truly a king fibre. The cotton plant is scientifically known as Gossypisum harbasium and it belongs to the family of Malvaceae. There are nearly 20 different species of cotton plants. All these grow in tropical and subtropical regions, and those growing in tropics are perennials while those in temperate regions annuals. The quality of cotton depends upon the whiteness, the purity, the length, the softness and regularity of the fibre. Because of its white colour and economic importance cotton is known as white gold. The main uses of cotton are for the manufacture of apparels, house hold articles and for industrial uses and their relative share is represented as 40% and 20% respectively. This king fibre is almost vital for the following products as shown by the list of variety of cotton products given in table 1.1. Table 1.1 The variety pf cotton products Automobile – tops Friction-tapes Tapes Bandages Fabrics Terry-cloth Book-Bindings Furniture covers Threads Canvas Hand kerchiefs Tickings Carpets Hosiery Tobaco-cloth Cheese cloth Lace Towelling Cloth-bags Mosquito-curtains Typewriter-ribbons Coverlets Paper Tyres Curtains Safety bags Umbrella-cloth Ducks Sheetings Wall-coverings Filter-cloth Shirts Washing cloth Fish-nets Shoe-laces yarns Millions in the world are directly dependent on this king fibre and the vagaries of this king (Flutuations in prices) wither make or mar millions- making them wither rich or poor and generally causing immense ups and downs. As stated cotton is a king-fibre, but it is an arrogant king. It assumes that its virtues being so great no further skill be exercised. Of course there can be no doubt that cotton has enjoyed this unchallenged position, for cotton is a fibre with rugged virtues and unlimited hitherto unseen possibilities. And more qualities are added as research progress further. In recent years, however, cotton had suddenly relized that there are other competitors for the crown. These seems to be a general rising against it and also there are positive and hostile signs of rebllion. In fact, its crown has already tumbled down and part of its empire has already gone. Competitors are proving to be a rather tough problem and very severe headache for this king. Many different fibres are competing with this king-fibre and among these are silk and wool which offer competition on the finer side while enough other fibres like linen, hemp, sisal and ramie offer competition on the tougher side. But a more serious competition on the tougher side. But a more serious competition comes from man-made fibres like rayon (made by processing a natural substance and then reforming it ) and more recently from synthetic fibres (made entirely fromchemicals produced by man like nylon and terylene. Theses man-made fibres are made from substances which are negligible in price and therefore their competition is going to prove vital or almost fatal to this king. The common textiles fibres may be classified as shown in table 1.2 Natural Manufactured Cotton (seed hair) Rayon (pure cellulose) Flax (stems) Viscose Ramie (Stems) Cuprammonium Cellulose Jute (stems) High-tenacity rayons Hemp (stems) Sunn (stems) Sesal Coir Natural Manufacured Wool (sheep) Ardil (peanut fibre) Mohair (angora Vicara (zein of corn) Goat) Casein (milk protein) Protein Cashmere and Acetate (cellulose Ester) Nylon (polymide) Thermoplastics Dacron (polyester) Orlon (Acrylic) Vinyon Natural Other common fibres Manufactured Rubber Mineral Asbestos Alginates Fibreglass Paper Metallics As can be seen from table 1.2 there are a wide variety of fibres available. Each kind of fibre has its own particular properties and advantages. For example, wool is warm and resists creasing because it has natural elasticity. Silk is soft and lustrous. Linen is crisp and shiny. Synthetic fibres are very strong and absorb little water. Hence, if this arrogant king just forgets the glory of the past and tries to adjust itself to the changing environment, it may still holds its place as not king but leader of the fibres, and may at least retain (if not regain) its losing empire, for “ Cotton is a fibre with rugged virtues”. THE RISE OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY Thousands of years ago, man lived in caves and spend his life hunting. The only cloths he had were the skins of the animals he killed. Then he discovered that he could twist together wool and plant fibres into yarn (that is spin) And interlace the yarn into cloth (that is weave). The word “textile” is derived from the Latin term textiles for woven fabrics. Thus by textiles we understand those objects which have been prepared by weaving. A far back as 500 BC, Egyptians and other ancient people were weaving fine linen and wollen cloth. In about 3000 BC, the Chinese discovered how to weave beautiful cloth from the delicate threads spun by the silkworm. The Indians began making cotton cloth very soon after wards. Spinning and weaving were done by hand at home until the 1700s. Then the invention of machines such as the spinning jenny, the spinning mule, and the power loom led to the development of textile making as a large-scale industry. People left their homes to spin and weave in factories. The discovery of synthetic dyes and artificial silk in the 1800s and synthetic fibres in the 1900s gave textile manufactures a much wider range of materials to work with. Today, we can buy brightly coloured fabrics which do not crease or shrink, which dry quickly, and which do not need ironing. They may contain fibres made from glass, coal, oil or even rock. COTTON TEXITLE INDUSTRY IN INDIA Indians cotton textile industry occupies a unique position. It accounts for about 7 percent of the gross domestic product, 20 percent of the industrial out put, and over 30 percent of the export earnings. It contributes over Rs. Five. Billion in terms of excise duty to the exchequer. After agriculture, this industry is the second-largest employment provider in the country as its cultivation provides 200 man days/hectare of employment. Around 60 million people earn their livelihood through its cultivation or trade and processing. A considerable number of people also get benefited through its indirect employment. At the time of independence, the textile industry, the largest organized industry in the country, comprised an estimated 2.5 million handloom weavers and 356 mills, with an installed capacity of about 10.3 million spindles, 2,00,000 looms and 7,00,000 workers. After that, the increase in fabric production is mainly because of the availability of major raw materials, such as cotton and man-made fibres. However, the share of cotton gradually declined from 99 percent in the fifties to 69 percent in 1997. As an aftermath of partition of the country, 30 percent of cotton-growing area went of Pakistan. But through concerted efforts, the country could achieve self- sufficiency. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES From the mid-eighties on wards the cotton textile mill segment has been experiencing significant changes caused by market resurgences, mill reconstruction, deregulation and economic reforms In recent years, the market for cotton cloth grew rapidly athe average rate of profit and value added per worker improved. Over the years, the fibre-mix pattern of cloth has also undergone change. In the fifties cloth was mainly cotton-based but now cotton cloth accounts for only to percent of the total production. The remaining 40 percent is contributed by blented and cent percent non-cotton cloth. Of course, there has been an improvement in the quality of fabrics. At present, there are 1824 textile mills in India, out of which 1543 are spinning mills and the remaining 281 composite mills, i.e. in the post- independence period. There has been nearly a five fold increase in the number of cotton / manmade textile mills, within a period of around 50 years. COTTON AVAILABILITY Cotton is the main raw material for the cotton textile industry. Availability and its price level will have a bearing on the performance of the cotton textile industry. Cotton is the most important commercial crop in India, occupying 92.61 lakh hectares of cultivated area. It accounts for 28 percent area in world’s total cotton cultivation area, which is the largest in the world. COTTON PRODUCTION India is the third largest producer of cotton after china and USA. Cotton is grown over around 22 milion acres, with a production of 2.7 million tones a year. Sowing begins in May some areas and picks up in june with the arrival of monsoon. India’s production of cotton was 26,35,000 tonnes in 1999, which was 14 percent of would production. But yields per hectare here are the lowest among the important cotton producing countries in the world. Currently China, USA, Russia, India, Pakisthan and Brazil are the first six major producers of cotton in the world. When world cotton production increased by 5.26 percent from 1985 to 14 percent in 1999, in the same period cotton production of cotton increased from 13 percent in 1985 to 14 percent in 1999.