IN PERSPECTIVE
‘ SADH’- A GROWING COMMUNITY IN THE TEXTILE BUSINESS
Irrespective of cast and community, one must appreciate the Sadh community due to its growing footprints into accessories, home furnishing and apparel export. In Delhi-NCR alone, there are nearly 500 Sadh businessmen who are in the textile business and 70 per cent of them are into scarves and accessories manufacturing. A good number of Sadhs( more than 200 firms) are also present in Surat and Erode. They are said to be involved mainly in textile business, wherever they exist. Most of them originally belong to Farrukhabad( Uttar Pradesh) and some of them still have some set-up there.
Old generations of the Sadh community were basically experts in craft, block printing and possessed a deep knowledge of the dyeing process. Fabric was the strength of the community as they knew the intricacies associated with it from a grassroot level. Some of them came to Delhi and Noida and also tried to start their own exports while working as printing job workers for exporters.
“ It was during 1995-96 when Surat started its domination in value addition and bulk business, due to which the printing business of Farrukhabad faced pressure. When some of the printing experts took a plunge and achieved success in export business, many others started moving away from Farrukhabad and slowly established themselves in other parts of the country,” shared Desh Deepak Sadh, Selfi Wear, Delhi / Sadh Sons, Farrukhabad. He moved from Farrukhabad to Delhi in 1996 and is now offering a good variety of stoles, scarves and shawls.
Lack of proper education was a hurdle faced by many of these Sadh businessmen in the early days, but despite that, their hard work paid off. Some of them learned business from domestic sectors and settled for the same. However, majority of them are into exports or are catering to both markets. Lack of amenities and basic infrastructure in Farrukhabad pushed them to move their base to Delhi and Noida. Other specific reasons associated with the growing expansion of this community into textile business is that, the community does not like to do a 9-to-5 job and their passion for becoming entrepreneurs is very high. They live by the norms of supporting each other
Desh Deepak Sadh, Selfi Wear, Delhi / Sadh Sons, Farrukhabad
and focus on growth, rather than leg pulling and the likes. The same is applied to their involvement into export business, which is reflected in the growth witnessed over a period of time.“ Whoever joined the business later learned quickly and explored many more opportunities rather than creating competition for the existing ones,” added Desh Deepak Sadh.
In Delhi-NCR, major chunk of this community has been into scarves manufacturing from the beginning and even today, most of them are inclined in the same direction. One of the main reasons for this is the ease involved in the process of making scarves and requirement of less resources( compared to garment manufacturing). Since the second generation( mostly entered into business after 2005) is well involved in this business, some of them put an addition of home furnishing and apparel to their product offerings.
Saar International Exports, Noida is another company that
Sandeep Sadh, Saar International Exports, Noida
In Delhi-NCR, major chunk of this community has been into scarves manufacturing from the beginning; and even today, most of them are inclined in the same direction. One of the main reasons for this is the ease involved in the process of making scarves and requirement of less resources( compared to garment manufacturing).
Ayan( L) and Sanya Sadh of Ayan Collection
has its roots in Farrukhabad. The company added garmenting a few years back as only having an accessories business( scarves, bags) did not prove as fruitful because of increased competition. Sandeep Sadh, Director of the family-run company who is in this business for more than 20 years and who started exports 10 years ago shared,“ We left Farrukhabad because it was not easy to grow in exports from there. Most of the Sadh community are based in Delhi and just 20 per cent are still in Farrukhabad. There is no significant textile business left there,” added Sandeep.
Ayan Sadh of Ayan Collection, a younger generation member of the community representing his family business adds,“ Our community is into this business from a long time and we are carrying forward the same.” The company has its unit in Export Promotion Industrial Park( EPIP), Greater Noida.
40 Apparel Online India | MARCH 1-15, 2018 | www. apparelresources. com