CHAPTER 3

Profile of Textiles in District;.

3.1 Introduction:

Kolhapur city is situated in the South West of . Western Maharashtra is economically progressive and well developed region. Kolhapur serves as the Headquarters of the . It is also known as city of places and temples. This district has twelve Talukas. It is divided into four sub divisions; they are Karveer, , and . In such strong hold area lays the district “Kolhapur”.Sahayadri is on its western side. It is spread over 7,685 sq.kms. With rich water resources and Panchaganga, Vedganaga, Dudhganga, Bhogawati, Kumbhi, Kasari, Tulasi, Chikotra, Chitri, Warna and Krishna are the rivers flowing across the district. Radhanagri, Tulsi, Doodhganga, and Tilari are the four major projects of this district. In the north of Kolhapur district is District, in West there is Sindhudurg and District and to the East and South are District of state. All the regions surrounded the Kolhapur district are well established in case of business.

Kolhapur is famous for agricultural activities and is industrially strong, and is politically powerful. It has given leaders like late Y. B. Chavan, Late Vasantdada Patil and Chief Minister Shri Yashwantrao Chavan. The ‘ lobby’ of Maharashtra is regarded as ‘kingmakers’. Kolhapur is financially strong because farming is main occupation of people in this district because of rich water resources and rivers flowing around the district. Water is available throughout the year; this is because of the constructed by Shahu Maharaj nearly a century ago. Kolhapur is famous and mostly liked for its greenery, hence many film festivals and shooting of films are carried here. Wrestlers of Kolhapur are famous in our country. Kolhapur has pleasant climate and the temperature is between 140c to 350c. Rainfall is from the month of June to September and winter is from the month of November to February. Due to heavy rainfall in the year 2005 and 2006 there

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was flood in Kolhapur district. As this district has all good weather condition, industries has also developed fastly.

“An official census 2011 detail of Kolhapur, a district of Maharashtra has been released by directorate of censes operations in Maharashtra. Enumeration of key persons was also done by censes officials in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. In 2011 Kolhapur had population of 3,876,001 of which male and female were 1,980,658 and 1,895,343 respectively. In 2001 census Kolhapur had a population of 3,523,162 of which males were 1,807,470 and remaining 1,715,692 were females. Kolhapur district population constituted 3.45 per cent of total Maharashtra population in 2001 census this figure for Kolhapur district was at 3.64 per cent of Maharashtra population. There was change of 10.01 per cent in the population compared to population as per 2001. In the previous census of 2001, Kolhapur district recorded increase of 17.85 per cent to its population compared to 1991.”1

In this district there are various places for sight-seeing like , Rajashri Shahu Khasbag Maidan, Chhatrrapati Shahu Museum, , , dajipur wild life sanctuary and Khidrapur. All the places are full of scenic beauty. Tourist gets attracted due to its greenery. People also visit the religious place in the town. The language spoken is Marathi, Guajarati, Brahmins, Buddhist, Marwari’s, Jains and Muslims are the communities very well settled. Late Chh. Shahu Maharaj is regarded as the father of modern Kolhapur.

3.2 Historical Review:

Kolhapur history may be divided into three periods, early Hindu period, partly Mythic and partly Historic, reaching to about A.D1347: Muslim period from A.D1347 to about 1700 and Maratha period since 1700 Kolhapur was one of the very old cities in the country. Kolhapur was named by Kolhapur, Kollpur, Kollagiri, Kolladigiri, Pattan all different names had their own meaning like Kola means valley and Kolhapur means city of Vallies. In short, Brahmapuri, Karvir and Kolhapur are different names for this place city was referred as Karvir after the installation of Mahalaxmi temple. In 634 A.D, King Kamdeo

74 from this family started construction of Mahalaxmi temple. There is great place of pilgrimage named Kolhapur in Southern country. Goddess Ambabai of Kolhapur is worshipped in every Maharashtra household. In old literature Karveer Peeth is referred as ‘Dakshin Kashi’. During calamity Mahalakshmi lifted this city to the safe place by her own hands hence the city was named as “Karvir” in ninth century A.D, when Mahalaxmi temple was established Kolhapur was recognised as a religious centre with different cultural and financial developments.

After Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj conquered Panhalgad in 1659, Kolhapur became part of Maratha kingdom. During Shivaji time Kolhapur played a major role in freedom fight war. During the period of Maharani Tarabai, Kolhapur had the status of capital city. In 19th century it was the period of Rajashri Shahu Maharaj, Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj ruled over it. Places like Panhala, Jyotiba, Vishalgad, Nursinhawadi and Bahubali attracted tourist. This district has made progress mainly through Cooperative Movement. The Tatyasaheb Mohite, Late Dattajirao Kadam, Shri Tatyasaheb Kore, Shri Ratnappa Kumbhar and few others have laid foundation and made cooperative movement.

3.3 History of Textiles in Kolhapur District:

In history Shahu Maharaj struggled for welfare of common people. In the year 1902 Shahu Maharaj returned from abroad and he constructed auditorium (Natyagrah) and Khasbag ground for the people. He was not satisfied by it because it did not provide employment to local people.

In the year of 1905 year Shahu Maharaj started an industry which was based on crops so that farmers and local citizens get employment and proper value for it. Cotton is an important fibre crop 30,000acres of land was under cultivation of it. Hence to utilise this resource Shahu Maharaj thought to start a cloth mill at Kolhapur. On 27 September 1906 day of Dashera foundation of Shri Shahu spinning and weaving mill was laid down. This mill is situated on 27 acre plot of land and in the heart of city. This was the first cotton mill which was run on the principle of joint stock capital system in Kolhapur

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district. There were some financial difficulties and hence this mill was taken over by the Kolhapur Sansthan. In the year 1949 Kolhapur Sansthan was merged into Bombay state. The first powerloom factory was started at Ichalkaranji in the year 1928.

There was much development in this field in the period of Second World War. The late Maharaja Shahu Chhatrapati of Kolhapur, started a cotton textile mill at Kolhapur, It was owned by the Kolhapur Government. Originally it had only a spinning section and weaving department was added to it in 1928. Till 1935, it was managed by Messrs. James Finlay and Co. who acted as the agents of the Kolhapur Government. With the merger of the Kolhapur in Bombay State in 1949, the unit was taken over by the Government of Bombay.

Besides this large-scale textile unit, there were in 1953-54, 150 power loom factories in the district which were mostly located at Ichalkaranji. About 1,590 power-looms were working in them. The first power-loom factory was started in 1928. During the thirties and forties of this century this industry was greatly expanded as a result of the encouragement and concessions granted to it by the Jahagirdar of Ichalkaranji, a Jahangir of the then . It was during this period that many hand-looms were converted into power-looms. The industry was further expanded during the Second World War, when many Marwari Commission Agents rendered financial assistance to artisans working on handlooms to facilitate the conversion from hand-looms to power-looms. Availability of skilled labour was another factor which helped in the expansion of the industry.

Cotton, cotton-yarn of different counts and art silk was the main raw materials in the industry. Cotton yarn of 40s and over, artificial silk-yarn, and dyes were brought from Bombay. Sometimes, cotton-yarn of 40s and over was brought from Madura. Stores materials were purchased locally

Most of the power loom factories were situated at Ichalkaranji. Some of them used power generated by oil engines and some received it from Radhanagari Hydro-Electric Project.

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In 1956-57, the main cotton textile products of the district were grey dhotis and Pugree-cloth, plain Khadi, heavy long-cloth, and dhoti-cloth manufactured by the textile mill and coloured Saris and Khans and grey dhotis produced on power-looms. More than ninety per cent of the textile production in the district was of saris and khans and grey dhotis. On an average a power-loom produced 25 yards of cloth per day. Power-loom factories were then producing grey dhotis as they were forbidden to produce saris of lower counts by Government. The market for these goods was generally concentrated in Maharashtra. Marketing of the products was done through commission agents.

Past 96 years a siren of Chh Shahu mills of Kolhapur set as alarm for people at 6.30 am. But now this mill is near to be shut down. In the year 2010 of January the last stock of mills cloth was sold at 40% discount outside the mills closed gates. But now some top industries are trying to deal with it. Some ministers demanded that state government must invest and handle this mill or preserve it as memorial to Shahu Maharaj and it will work as guidance for the next generation.

3.4 Kolhapur as Educational Hub:

Kolhapur is a popular pilgrim Centre. This district has all infrastructure and education institutes just like city. It also has wide scope for IT section. This city is on way of becoming metro city. The atmosphere, cool climate, surplus availability of land many developed educational facilities laid the foundation for development of this district in all fields.

Maharashtra provides good quality education, Kolhapur is also one such city who has number of education institutes which has plenty of students from neighboring states. This is also the land of Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil who struggled for taking education to the masses by his innovative “earn and learn” scheme. Kolhapur is well established in education.

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Table: 3.1

Taluka Wise Educational Setup in year 2014-15

Sr.no. Taluka Primary Junior & ITI Total &Secondary Senior Schools Colleges

1 Karveer 346 56 01 403.00

2 269 42 01 312.00

3 174 23 01 198.00

4 255 14 01 270.00

5 202 17 01 220.00

6 Panhala 244 19 01 264.00

7 145 06 01 152.00

8 Bhudargad 193 09 01 203.00

9 Gadhinglaj 165 17 01 183.00

10 Radhanagari 237 12 01 250.00

11 Shahuwadi 180 07 01 188.00

12 Gaganbawada 59 02 01 62.00

Total 2469.00 224.00 12.00 2705.00

Source:- Reports from Zilla Parishad Kolhapur

The table shows Talukawise educational setup in Kolhapur District for the year 2014-15. There are 2469 Primary and secondary schools, 224 Junior and Senior colleges and 12 Government industrial training institutes. From the above table it is clear that Kolhapur is best in education.

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3.5 Industrial Review:

Due to fast development Kolhapur is always viewed as first choice of people. There are many commercial and residential projects which are liked by the people, buyers and investors. This district has seven (MIDC) units for commercial purpose and easy transportation facility the air way is developed by new facilities for convenience of industrial imports and exports to be carried out IT park In Kagal and Karveer industrial area are expanding day by day.

Kolhapur district is well-known by its sugar industries, cooperative and dairy business also. This provides large number of investors which result in sound development. There are many shopping complex and mall in this city where people can experience good shopping instead of going to other cities like Pune and Bombay. There are many branded outlet opened in the city as retail sector. Textile, automobile and information technology is well developed in this district but still remains the economical back bone of this district.

In the year 2001, the central government has given permission for 277medium and major industries in Kolhapur of these 110 units have started production.The major units are 21 spinning mills (private and cooperative)15 sugar industries and 21 textile mills. The remaining 53 units are based on engineering goods poultry, foundry chemical.

“Kolhapur city has highest per capita income in the country and its one of the fastest growing cities in Maharashtra. As per survey conducted in 2011- 12 clearly showed that Kolhapur district has per capita income (yearly) Rs 1,01,044 .which is 5th highest in Maharashtra state and there has been an increase of Rs 17,000 as compared to the earlier survey conducted in the year 2010-2011. “Kolhapur” is the fourth city in the Maharashtra.This has fast development.”2

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Table: 3.2

Status of Industrial Areas in Kolhapur:

Name of Area Establishment Land acquiesced Area of year developed land By MIDC (Hector) (Hector)

Shiroli 1967 254.19 166.72

Gokul shirgaon 1977 219.06 158.02

Ajara 1990 06.01 03.40

Halkarni 1988 192.53 14.05

Kagal 5 Star 1996 1085.01 503.29

Gadhingalaj 1989 132.52 103.44

Total -- 1889.32 948.92

Source: Reports from MIDC’s. Kolhapur.

1. Above table of existing status of industrial area of Kolhapur shows that Kagal-Hatkangale area has more developed in case of industrial units the land acquisition by MIDC of Kagal is more also the development of land is noticeable. 2. Kagal- Hatkangale Talukas had 57.43% of land acquired out of the total area developed by MIDC in the district. And 53.04% are developed in this area.

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3.6 Kolhapur Industrial Estate at a Glance:

The state government has made land available in outside of district for industrial purposes. The area was known as ‘Shivaji Udyam Nagar’ or ‘Small Scale Industrial Zone’. This area has about 42 acres of land and it is divided into 207 plots, of which, 192 plots have already been sold. Construction is done on on 108 plots and about 80 plots are still vacant.

The state government has encouraged converting industrial zone into industrial estate by constructing factory buildings and by starting some production-cum-training centres in the estate.

In the year 1967 the government has sanctioned loans for development of roads, drainage and water pipe line has already been completed. A co- operative society has been started by plot holders known as ‘Kolhapur Udyam Co-operative Society Ltd’. for the organisation and management of the estate.

About 207 factories are to be located in the estate. About 50 industrial are from engineering industry that is, foundries, workshops, automobile repair shops, smithy, exist in the industrial zone that is the industrial estate provides a factory space common facilities like supply of electricity for lighting and power, water, drainage,road and rail transportation. There are 12 Tehsils, 9 municipal councils, 1 municipal corporation and 1200 villages in Kolhapur district. In the year 1991-92 “socio-economic review of Kolhapur district vital information about the industry is given. It is noticed that the industrial establishments in rural areas were more than in urban area. The industrial life and activity of the district is divided in two sections they are Large-scale industries and Small-scale industries.

• Large-scale industries:

Spinning mills, sugar industries are the major industry of Kolhapur district, other sector like engineering goods, poultry, and foundry, chemical. Provides employment for lakhs of people in Kolhapur.

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• Small scale industries:

The major small scale industries are into manufacturing auto spare parts, casting work engineering, diesel engine and activities like making , Pheta’s and making Kolhapuri .

3.7 Textile Industry in Kolhapur District:

Shrimant Narayanrao Babasaheb Ghorpade, the 8th Successor, was well educated and widely travelled to foreign countries. He inspired the handloom industry in Ichalkaranji. Ichalkaranji saris had great demand all over. In the year 1904 Shri. Viithalrao Datar, installed second-hand powerloom from mill it is said that this is the first powerloom started in the decentralized textile industry of India. The foresighted ruler-Shrimant Narayanrao Ghorpade provided financial help and free land to weavers. He was instrumental in establishing Ichalkaranji Co-operative Credit Bank, The Urban Cooperative Credit Society and number of other credit societies. Ichalkaranji now has become a major powerloom decentralized textile centre.

In Kolhapur district there is small town called ‘Ichalkaranji’ which is called as ‘Manchester of Maharashtra’and around Ichalkaranji there are about 35 spinning mills, ply yarns, ring and open end yarns, and fancy yarns. All required development facilities, well equipment, machinery, research development facilities are provided for good quality production.

Many of these spinning Mills are Export Oriented Units. Thus, these Spinning Mills are erected for availability of better quality raw material (Yarn) required for weaving sector of this area.

There are about 160 sizing units, consisting of 250 sizing machines, which include conventional to modern machines and more than 1 lakh power looms in this decentralized sector. These power looms include plain loom, dobby, drop box, auto and semi auto looms. Such wide range of machines is producing fabrics such as Cambric, Poplin, Dhoti, Printed Sari, Blouse, Interlining, Shirting, Canvas and Industrial Textile. More than 35 power

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processes and about 80 hand processing units are fulfilling the needs for the sector.

In all, 15,000 auto looms including approx.3000 of Ruti-C and remaining of Ruti-B and Cimmco-automatic looms are working. Textile Industry in Ichalkaranji, the power loom industry is running on a small scale basis by the different entrepreneurs. Production of power looms was mostly done in local markets because the technology used was simple and cheap. Now a days power looms are working in large segment of market where income per capita is minimum.

In this Ichalkaranji decentralized power loom sector textile manufacturing activities are spread across the city and in short time it is being spread in nearby villages.

Following Industrial Estates / Textile Parks are established in the area of this cluster.

1. Ichalkaranji Cooperative Industrial Estate. 2. Laxmi Cooperative Industrial Estate. 3. Parvati Cooperative Industrial Estate. 4. Khanjire Cooperative Industrial Estate. 5. Metro Hi-tech Textile Park. 6. Pride India Textile Park. 7. Kallappanna Awade Textile Park.

3.8Kolhapur Textile from Traditional to Modern Technology:

Before 1980, Kolhapur was famous for Cotton Poplin, Dhoti, and Cotton Saris. In mid-1980s, weavers of the city started producing Denim, Canvas, Chiffon and fabric for school uniforms (Khaki drills). Fabrics such as Seersuccer, Oxford, Herringbone, Ripstop, Chambray, Tweed, and Twill are made in Kolhapur city. They are used by many domestic and international fashion brands such as Raymond’s of India, Armani, banana republic, Hugo Boss, and Paul Smith.

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The fabrics (in grey and finished form) produced in Kolhapur have demand in market like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmadabad, Calcutta and . Also, the fabrics are exported in International market.

But, now days due to increasing quality consciousness, the plain power looms were not suitable to fulfill the market requirement. During 1980s the textile industry changed from old technology from obsolete technology to comparatively better technology that is plain power loom to semi- auto or fully automatic sophisticated power looms.

Today, in Kolhapur state of the art Beam warping machines, Sizing machines and Sectional warping machine of Benninger, Succer Muller are in operation. At present spinning, weaving preparatory and weaving sectors are well grown in this region. Recently, Garment Industry units have been started.

In Kolhapur fabric manufacturing activity was carried out on a large scale. Other processes like Winding, Warping, Sizing and post processes like Calendaring, Bleaching, Mercerizing, Dyeing, Printing, Finishing and Garmenting were established. Tofulfill the need of raw material for fabric, yarn manufacturing activity was also established. Now the Kolhapur Textile Cluster is well developed from fibre – yarn – fabric to garment manufacturing.

3.8.1 Powerloom Units:

In Kolhapur centre various types of power looms are running which includes machine width from 44” to 130”. The majority of looms are of 60” width producing Dhoti, Cambric, Poplin, Mulmul. Some of the looms are having the machine width in the range of 44” to 56” and are producing fabrics for Blouse Pieces, Shirting, and Dress Material etc. Also, wider width looms having machine width above 68” are producing fabrics for Suiting, Shirting, Curtains, and Upholstery etc. Since last ten years, significant number of extra wide width looms (84” to 130”) is also operating in the area of Kolhapur. These wider width looms are producing fabrics for Bed Linen

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Table: 3.3

Loom width

Sr.no Loom width

1 44” to 56”

2 60” to 64”

3 68” to 130”

4 84” to 130”

The above table shows the loom width previously it was from 44” to 56”. Since last ten years number of extra wide width looms 84” to 130” is also operating in Kolhapur.

Table: 3.4

Powerloom Unit

Sr Year Loom Product produced in Machine in use. no width the unit. 1 1980 44 to 56 Blouse piece, shirting, Powerloom dress-material

2 1990 60 to 64 Dhoti, cambric, poplin, Plain Powerloom to mulmul semi-automatic loom

3 2000 68 to 130 Suiting, shirting, curtain, Fully automatic upholstery. sophisticated powerlooms

4 2005 84 to 130 Bed linen, suiting, Fully automatic shirting, curtain sophisticated powerlooms

5 2014 84 to 130 All above products are Fully automatic produced. sophisticated powerlooms

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From the above table of Powerloom unit, it is clear that from the year 1980 textile industry of Kolhapur area started to shift from traditional Powerloom technology to comparatively better technology. That is plain Powerloom to semi-auto or fully automatic sophisticated powerlooms like CIMMCO, Ruti B and Ruti C with this, the production also increased with variety of items. Also various brand like Raymond, Armani, Banana, Republic, Hugo Boss, Paulsmith started using fabrics made in Kolhapur units.

3.8.2Shuttle less Weaving Machines:

During 2001, the face of textile industry was changed from shuttle less weaving machine to automatic looms. Entrepreneurs required latest shuttle- less weaving technology to be used.

People of this area had knowledge of cotton technology which helped them to get better product mix of shuttle less weaving machines especially for Cotton Shirting, Suiting and Fine Cotton Fabric which was not possible for other textile product manufacturers. Hence, the market for shuttle less weaving machine in this area grown and thereby many shuttle less weaving machines having width in the range of 190 cm to 220 cm along with dobby and four color weft insertion attachment have done.The scenario is represented in the following table.

Table: 3.5

Weaving Machines

Sr. No. Type of Weaving Machines

1 Rapier

2 Air Jet

3 Projectile

Nearby 6,500 shuttleless weaving machines have been installed in Kolhapur district. In all, technology selected for shuttle less weaving machines

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running is having 70%, 20%, 10% contribution of Rapier, Air jet and Projectile technology power loom units and shuttle less weaving units work on three similar kinds of trade systems such as job work from the trader, own set system and manufacture of finished fabrics.

Out of 6,500 Shuttleless weaving machines, about 4,000 Shuttleless weaving machines are imported from European Manufacturers such as Picanol, Nuvo Pignone, Sulzer, Somet, Smit, Vamatex, Dornier, among which includes about 1000 New showroom Shuttleless weaving machines and remaining are second hand used imported machines, whereas remaining 500 shuttleless weaving machines are from domestic shuttleless weaving machine manufacturers such as Himson, Laxmi and Alidhara.

3.8.3Weaving Preparatory Industries:

A) Warping and Sizing: Powerloom industry is supported by warping, sectional warping and sizing units are established Presently, in Kolhapur state of the art Beam warping machines, Sizing machines and Sectional warping machine of Benninger, Succer Muller, Jupiter, Zell ATE, Ambika are in operation. This cluster is well versed with sizing. Good and fine yarns are made from cotton, manmade and their blends. There are sectional warping machines to process double and plied yarn and pattern sets. For this there are machines of Techmac, Bhagwati, Beninger, Rabatex, and Gamatex.

B) Drawing and Knitting At the beginning beam is prepared in warping and sizing unit. It is taken for drawing in process. It is a manual process of drawing the threads through held wire and reed. Mostly weaver’s services of contractual drawers do this process. As this activity is done by contract people, sometimes there can be delay in this work Due to this, the production of weaving house can suffer to some extent.

In case of automatic and shuttle less weaving machines, it is necessary to get the beam quickly to avoid the delay in restarting the weaving machine. This

87 can be achieved by using a knotting machine to tie the new and old beam warps. This was very successful in the loom sheds where the numbers of looms are more. Knotting machines are used most commonly in sheds with shuttle less looms.

C) Post Weaving Process Before Textile Industry, people used to sell the fabric in grey form. This fabric usually was calendared on calendaring machines.Higher qualities of fabric like Cambric, Dhoti, Mulmul were introduced in the textile industry. These fabrics were sold after bleaching. In that time, Calendaring and Bleaching were the processes which got more popularity. After some time the textile industry diversified to those fabric qualities which required bleaching, dyeing, mercerizing, finishing and printing. Hence, units of these processes were established. At present there are many processing houses in Kolhapur catering for chemical treatment of fabric mainly for local market.

3.8.4 Garment Units:

The weaving units of Kolhapur district are capable of producing good quality fabric needed for producing Garments. There are very less number of processing houses which can treat the grey fabric for the use of Garment Manufacturing unit. And hence garment units were established to convert the finished fabric in to garments which can be sold to the final customer. At present there are many small to big Garment Manufacturing units in district.

3.8.5 Spinning Industry:

Power loom industry use to purchase yarn from Mumbai, Coimbatore and . There was shortage of it. The leaders from Ichalkaranji conceived the idea of Cooperative Spinning mills and it was supported by the then Chief Minister Shri Yashwantrao Chavan. He helped financially to start the Deccan Cooperative Spinning Mills of Weavers in Ichalkaranji. After the success of this mill, many cooperative and private spinning mills are now established around Ichalkaranji. As per the rule of Government in the mills is not to increase hence person in Ichalkaranji made the idea of establishing

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100% EOU units in Ichalkaranji. And Nav Maharashtra Cooperative spinning mills was started as 100% EOU spinning mill. These spinning mills in Ichalkaranji are producing international quality of yarn of wide count range.

3.8.6 Establishment of Organized Sector:

Favourable government incentives, well developed weaving mills and successful running spinning mills attracted many popular textile companies like Raymonds, Vardhman, Soktas, Oswal, Arvind, Indo count, Tessituera Monti were attracted to start their manufacturing units near Kolhapur district. Many units of spinning, weaving preparatory, weaving, processing and garmenting were also started. These mills produced good quality Shirting, Suiting and Home Textiles. These products are in demand by customers.

3.8.7 Territory:

Majority of families in Kolhapur district have power loom at their home. Mainly textile units were started in Ichalkaranji.

powerloom units were successful hence persons in the city started textile industry. Industrial estates were established in Kolhapur city. There are four industrial estates in Ichalkaranji. Available land is in these estates are occupied by textile industries and supporting industries. But, the growth of textile industry continued. Therefore, industry kept on growing. many textile units have been started in villages near Ichalkaranji cityKabnoor, Rui, Tilawani, Sajani, Mangaon, korochi, Hatkangale, ,Khotwadi, Tardal, Takwade, Kurundwad, Shirdhon, Abdul Lat, Shirwad, Shivnakwadi, Latwadi, Jangamwadi, Chandur, Rangoli, Rendal, Hupari, Vadgaon.

3.9Nature of Business Operation in Kolhapur District:

Powerloom textile industry of Ichalkaranji was producing traditional fabrics on plain and automatic looms up to 2004. After the year 2004 many units of shuttleless weaving machines were started. Before some years the fabric produced in Ichalkaranji was traditionally quality like dhoti, cambric and printed saris. After the introduction of automatic looms they started production of blend and synthetics shirting and suiting. In the year 2005 shuttleless looms

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the fabric production got divided and heavy fabrics like canvas and other technical textiles were set up. The fabric made by automatic and shuttle-less looms is much better and satisfactory. Value addition and marketing are drawback of textile industries in Kolhapur up to now the products are sold as grey fabric. There is no awareness about professional basis, market research, customer analysis product pricing, planning, promotion and distribution.

In general the marketing is done through following channels

Manufacturer – broker – middle man – merchant – commission agent – wholesaler – broker – semi whole seller – retailer – customer

There is other problem in the marketing. There are different credit periods ranging from 8 days to 90 days. The manufacturer is being targeted in most of the incidences for the payments with higher credit period. There are three basic systems of trading in Kolhapur district. 1) Job works from trader: Trader supplies yarn to the weavers.The weavers convert the yarn into fabric they are sold on basis of paisa per pick. The trader can deduct some amount from the conversion cost under the disguise of quality problems, which are decided by traders. Many popular brands like Raymond, Vardhman, Oswal and Arvind are giving work to the units with shuttleless looms. The traders may supply inferior quality beams due to compulsions on costing of the fabric, by using inferior quality of yarn. 2) Own set of manufacturers: manufacturers have good marketing network and business they have good financial background, they produce their own fabric, which has demand in the market, requires a higher level of working capital as the material in the process is high and the conversion time is substantial, in case of fabric production. Here the credit of up to 30 days may be offered by yarn traders. The manufacturer sells the product directly through his own marketing network, and with maximum payment credit of 60 days. The profit margin in ‘own set’ is higher than in‘jobwork’ 3) Manufacture of finished fabric: Home manufacturers produce the fabric and finish it by chemical processes and finished fabric is sold by them. The finance is still more than ‘own set’. These entrepreneurs purchase raw material directly from spinning mills or trader of yarn. The sale of fabric is done

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through middle man / agents. While the fabric is being manufactured in small units, the different jobs like yarn procurement, sizing, sampling are not done on technical basis. Now a day the cost of fabric is increasing. The area of textile industry also has grown. Hence the growth of supporting industry, also grow. This includes units of mechanical workshops, casting, spare parts and accessories manufacturing and repairing. The fabric is sold by the manufacturers in the manufacturing unit through personal contacts with brokers. These manufacturers do not avail the facilities of cloth Market (locally considered as Kapad market). The marketing is not done on scientific basis.

3.9.1 Market places:

There are three trading centres in Ichalkaranji;

 Kapad Market – There are 294 trading centres or shops for fabric, readymade garment and a few for saris. The fabrics, which are sold, are dhoti, shirting and suiting.  BJP Kapad Market –This market consists of 70 trading shops and a few ware houses. Dhoti and automatic loom fabrics are traded from this market.  Madanlal Bohra Kapad Market –In this complex there are trading shops. Dhoti and suiting is mainly traded in this Kapad market. Some manufacturers have the residences in this market.

These markets provide good infrastructural facilities for marketing. Inadequate ware house facility, lack of display centre, lack of place for buyer – seller meet and other common facilities are the main drawbacks of these market places.

Conclusions:

1) Kolhapur is famous for agricultural activities and is industrially strong. 2) Chht. Shahu Maharaj first laid the stone of textiles in Kolhapur. 3) Kolhapur assumes a place amongst the cities having highest per capita income in the country and it is one of the fastest growing cities in Maharashtra.

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4) The cooperative movement in Kolhapur is the backbone of economic development of the district. 5) Textile industry is well established in and around Kolhapur district. 6) Kolhapur district is now changing from traditional to modern due to globalisation.

References:

1 www.census2011.com 2 http://en.wikipedia). 3 http://Kolhapur.nic.in. 4 Ibid 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kol_dist. 6 Kolhapur gazetteer, government of Maharashtra. 7 www.kolhapurcorporation.gov.in.

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