Apparel Online India Magazine April 2nd Issue 2018 | Page 48

PERSPECTIVE STORY
Ludhiana on
‘young’ shoulders
A
mong the hundreds of garment
factories in Ludhiana, many are
witnessing young directors, of 2nd and
3rd generation in business struggling
and coordinating with old school of
thought, be it their father (deciding
authority in boardroom) or the master
jee working on the shopfloor. These
young guns are succeeding in garment
industry and attracting others also
who are in their age bracket. Case
to case, stories of these GenNext is
different but they are interesting and
motivational as this young brigade is
on right track, with proper balancing
of their own ways and learning from
their previous peers.
Dharamvir Jain (81) of Miniking
Knitwears (a company going to
surpass a turnover of Rs. 100 crore
soon) has seen four generations in
his family business of garments. His
father Trilok Chand Jain started
business in 1938, and now his three
grandsons are actively involved in the
family business. “Changes are part of
business and some time we don’t know
how the things changed. Among the
new generation whosoever is coming
into industry, will develop themselves.
I just want to say to them always
keep busy in yourself in work, and
things will be sorted out automatically.
By this they will get to know how to
move further and what will work in
future,” he shared his thoughts with
Apparel Online.
Just 7 months ago, Akshay (Grandson
of Dharamvir Jain) joined the
company. He started coming to factory
when he passed out from college
and began watching keenly how the
machines work, and how the garments
are being stitched. “I feel passion for
the same, so it was a natural call for
me to join the business,” says Akshay.
Having good knowledge of embroidery
and printing machines, he is also
focusing on best quality. Ashok Jain
and Anup Jain, third generation
of Miniking Knitwears, and sons of
Dharamvir Jain, proudly say that it
is good to see that now we have the
4th generation in this business and
we are building a system and factory
according to their mind set. We are
lucky to have our sons’ mindset as a
progressive one.
Three generations of Miniking Knitwears – (sitting L-R) Ashok Kumar Jain, Dharamvir Jain and Anup Jain
(Standing L-R) Archit Jain, Chandni Jain, Akshay Jain and Sambhav Jain
48 Apparel Online India | APRIL 16-30, 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
Though carrying forward the family
business is a routine affair in
Ludhiana’s textile industry, but what
has changed now…? It is the more
involvement of young ones and their
positive impact on the overall garment
business. Industry also observed that
involvement of GenNext had become
the need of the hour. Few years back
the situation was, like if anyone leaves
a child in the swimming pool alone,
the child would try hard to swim
for survival. The Ludhiana market
condition was similar to this. If the
young ones will not incline themselves
and improve in terms of efficiencies,
technologies and systems, sustaining
themselves might become a big
question mark. These changing phases
and challenges have also attracted
them to be part of the family business.
“The recent scenario of the increasing
involvement of the ‘younger
generation’ is looking impressive
as in the last 2 to 3 years, the new
entrepreneurs who have joined
business, age between 22 and 40
years. Either they are new in business
or they are of second generation.
Father-son duo of Nimesh Guptaa and Arrpiit Guptaa from NG Apparels