Apparel Online India Magazine September 1st Issue 2018 | Page 9

MIND TREE those areas where labour is cheaper and Government subsidies are being provided. I feel they should strongly invest in technology, training and should involve industrial engineering… Without these, exporters can’t achieve the required productivity and control cost. The compliance cost from buyers’ side is also something that one needs to understand, and consider. grab those kinds of orders where we have more savings. We take such small orders which require more typical operations so that SAM (Standard Allowed Minutes) can be increased, and we can get more money from it. As a company, we are also facing challenges like worker absenteeism, especially in festival season, so we try to I am also perplexed as to why exports are down; if you look at today’s environment, especially the weakening Pavan Kapoor, MD, IIGM, Bangalore rupee, it is putting Indian exporters in a reasonably good position as 5 to 6 per cent is a critical difference. This kind of weak rupee is strong support for exporters; strong rupee earlier became a big challenge for them. I am hopeful that if rupee remains weak, it will end up at 75. So this will be an interesting story for Indian apparel exporters… I think that the Indian rupee has been too strong for too long. From 2015 till today, Indian rupee has depreciated only by 2 per cent. What has NEXT MINDTREE QUESTION An Integrated Textile Policy is a long-drawn commitment of the Textile Ministry and many textile secretaries have since, come and gone but nothing has moved…With elections around the corner, can we expect the policy to finally see light of day? If it does come through, do you expect any real benefit? happened with other countries in this period…? Russian rouble depreciated nearly100 per cent; similarly Brazil currency depreciated 60 per cent and was topsy-turvy in Turkey too. Therefore, why would export grow in an environment where India’s rupee is stuck at that level…? I feel that sign of weakening rupee is a good thing for this industry and this can actually change the equation. So, I am very hopeful regarding exports now. POST YOUR COMMENTS www.apparelresources.com [email protected] www.apparelresources.com | SEPTEMBER 1-15, 2018 | Apparel Online India 9