While the textile industry in south Gujarat is passing through a downturn, manufacturers of machines for textile weaving, spinning and processing industry have been experiencing a boom time.
The need to adopt new technology for maintaining a competitive edge has forced the industry to spend more and most of the textile machinery manufacturers such as Himson, Alidhra, Premier, Sutex, Aalidhra are doing extremely well.
"Adopting latest technology is a must for any industry to maintain growth rate. The textile industry too has to keep pace with the technological advancement. Many textile businessmen go for upgradation by opting for latest machinery. Hence machinery manufacturers do not face any shortage of buyers, and do good business," Hansraj Gondalia, the chairman of Alidhra Textile Engineers Ltd, a leading Surat-based textile machinery manufacturing company, told Business Standard.
Powerloom machinery and yarn preparatory TFO twister machines are manufactured in Surat. Spinning machines, on the other hand, have to be imported from Europe or China. The annual capital investment in the textile sector is estimated to be around Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion), out of which, 25 per cent of the investment takes place in Surat alone.
Demand in the international market also helps the machinery manufacturers. "Himson Engineering, another Surat-based textile machinery producer, exports around 20 per cent of the total machines It manufactures. Alidhra exports five to seven per cent of its total production. So, in case there is recession in the domestic industry, the machinery manufacturers can negate the effect by focusing more on exports," Gondalia said.
According to a senior official in Himson Engineering, "No industry can afford to go on using outdated machines. More and more textile businessmen realised this, on account of which, the demand for latest textile machinery went up, resulting in higher sales for us. The demand for cheaper indigenous machines has gone up in the recent years as they turned out to be as reliable as those made in Europe."
According to Gondalia, the fact that machinery imports from China have reduced a great deal has worked in the favour of the local manufacturers. The Chinese machines are available at much lower prices.
"A large number of businessmen opted for Chinese machinery because of this, but the poor quality and reliability of these machines, soon became public knowledge. Hence, the demand for Chinese machines reduced to negligible levels, which has worked in favour of manufacturers like us, in the domestic as well as the international markets," Gondalia said.
However, small-scale machinery manufacturers do complain of occasional recession. "Himson and Alidhra are companies which have good presence in both domestic and international market. The recession in the local textile industry might not affect these companies, but the smaller manufacturers are certainly affected," Indravadan Mahadevwala of J C Machinery, said.
There are over two dozen small and big machinery manufacturers in Surat, but very few have business of a scale similar to that of the two companies. Unlike the bigger companies, the smaller companies have customer base only in Surat or nearby areas, and hence any recession in the local industry does have an impact on their business.
The bigger manufacturers also have a huge product profile, while the smaller companies manufacture very few types of machines. So the smaller companies are certainly affected by the recession in the textile industry,' he added.
