Recently, the India's Ministry of Textiles announced that USA has removed Indian carpets from the list of products "produced by forced labour or child labour in violation of international norms.” The US dept. of labour quickly clarified that it hasn't taken such a decision and would comment upon after studying the findings of an undergoing research report.
The Indian carpets industry used to be largely unorganized in the 90s where in few instances of such violations were observed, however as this sector is getting more regularised, such practises has significantly reduced.
The US dept. of labour has a strict policy against import of those articles or products where in child labour violations have been reported. Unfortunately, carpets from India is currently included on such a list. Let us take a brief view of the Indian carpet industry and why exclusion from this list is very important for our carpet manufacturers.
Carpet industry is one of the oldest industries in India. It is said that, carpet weaving was brought to India by the Moguls. Due to easy availability of resources, carpet manufacturing was restricted mostly to northern India. Major centers of carpets production have been Bhadohi, Agra, Jaipur & Kashmir.
Indian carpet industry's main strength lies in talented artistic weavers, lower cost of production, willingness to innovate and ability to offer a diverse variety to the buyers.
Having talked about its uniqueness and strength, India has its fair share of weaknesses as well. The sector has largely remained unorganized and hence the lack of professionalism and the existence of trade malpractices is quite common. Another factor, which eats into their profits is the over dependence on the agents due to less awareness about the various marketing options available to the sellers.
Other negative factors include poor infrastructure, informal training and unhealthy competition at the domestic level. Last but not the least, scant respect for IPR, which results in massive duplicacy of designs and patterns which further dampens a weaver's urge to innovate.
Experts believe that, there are still a plethora of opportunities for Indian carpets suppliers and manufacturers to improvise further e.g.
Emergence of new markets.
Growing disenchantment of the world community with the Chinese manufacturing industry.
Availability of better technology to lower down the cost of production to remain competitive.
Heavy Investment of foreign majors in the Indian carpet segment.
Acknowledgment of Indian weaver's talent in the global arena.
In the end it can be fairly concluded that the Indian carpet industry is going through a massive transformation. The fact that the traditional markets have saturated, has forced the carpets suppliers to exploit newer and emerging markets. The Indian carpets industry is looked upon by the world community as one of the game changers. Carpet suppliers from India will find it difficult to compete globally unless and until, it addresses some serious confrontational social issues. The time is ripe for Indian carpets manufacturers to begin their dominance over the world market of carpets provided they resolve the issues raised in a reasonable time.
PS : Carpet manufacturers get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on carpet suppliers
A recent report confirms that the major players in the carpet industry include Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, China, England, France, Russia, the US and Persian countries. Emerging economies such as Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Latin America are also gaining leverage due to better resource management and cheap and abundant labour.
US is playing a pivotal role in the carpet industry worldwide. It recently imposed sanctions on Iran which has hampered their carpet exports significantly. It is estimated that the export of hand-woven carpets generates about $500 million annually for Iran’s economy, with 20 percent of the total earnings coming from the U.S. market. Carpet weaving is big business in Iran and one of the country’s biggest employers. Now that the sanctions have been placed it will hit their carpet industry hard though would give other countries a chance to fill in the gap.
On the other hand US is also making an attempt to boost the carpet industry of Pakistan (as a part of its good will gesture) by training the carpet artists, creating more jobs though more investment and other such measures. Other countries need not worry about this development as the Pakistan's economy is already in shambles and such steps are purely for survival and wouldn't empower them to become market leaders.
Experts believe as of now the carpet manufacturers are facing four main challenges . These are as follows
Availability of skilled workers and raw materials
Accessibility to capital
Understanding of conventional weaving patterns
Marketing concerns and competition among others
Worldwide, the US continues to enjoy its position as the largest market for the carpet suppliers and manufacturers. The region is trailed by Europe and Asia-Pacific at second and third positions respectively. Industry veterans say in terms of fastest growing region, Asia-Pacific, driven by India and China is positioned to take the lead through 2015.
Further reports confirm that Indian carpets exports have registered a growth of 24 percent in the first five months of this fiscal (2010-11) despite the slow economic recovery.
With the market being back on track and the rising demand with every quarter the only question remains - how much could the Indian carpets suppliers benefit? I think this is the time to execute the plans, the projections can take a back seat !
PS : Carpets suppliers get your online catalog today and make profits by tapping the business queries being generated across the globe on the web 24/7 . To know more , click on Carpet suppliers
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