October 2019 Edition Apparel October 2019 issue | Page 93

NEW AVENUES
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
IN THE INDIAN APPAREL
INDUSTRY IS STILL QUITE
NASCENT BUT THERE IS A
LESSON THAT IT CAN LEARN
FROM THE COUNTRY’S
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
REVOLUTION.
across the entire production chain. By developing
such an approach to manufacturing, garment
businesses have the potential to drastically
reduce their long-term costs, access new
markets, and offer newer levels of customer
experience. However, such a shift requires great
imagination, boldness, and innovation in terms of
execution. This is where schemes such as Digital
India play a rather crucial role—they can help
Indian apparel businesses to leverage existing
resources so they may compete with international
standards of technology on an equal footing.
Digital transformation in the Indian apparel
industry is still quite nascent but there is a
lesson that it can learn from the country’s
telecommunications revolution. Over the last 30
years, India has leapfrogged over the adoption of
landline systems to embrace mobile technology.
There are more people with mobile and data
connections today than there were landline
users and home-internet users back then.
This was mainly due to the rapid growth of our
telecommunications industry through direct
government investment and indirect market
incentives. By supporting digital technologies for
fragmented apparel sectors—such as cottage
industries—India can create a well laid-out link
between producers and consumers via various
digital channels. This has the potential to make
the Indian apparel industry, as a whole, instantly
accessible to any consumer in the world, hence
ensuring that the benefits of international trade
are reaped by every industry-worker of the nation.
Across disciplines, the race towards
increasing digitisation has been unstoppable;
and in due time, Indian businesses will reach
the same level of competency as their global
counterparts. But it is highly likely that this will
sideline a significant segment of the rural labour
force that is responsible for a sizeable skill and
talent base in arenas of ethnic and traditional
apparel. Therefore, it is necessary for the Indian
government to invest in the digital transformation
of these very segments; in doing so, it can not
only set the idea of ‘Digital India’ in action but also
help in laying down the foundation for a new class
of workers who are skilled and eager to learn.
This can have a transformative effect due to the
consequential export earnings and make Indian
apparel an inclusive, profitable space to be in.
APPAREL
I
October 2019
I
91