Supply chain management in Indian textile industry

India’s textiles sector is one of the oldest industries in Indian economy for the past several centuries. Even today, textiles sector is one of the largest contributors to India’s exports with approximately 11 per cent of total exports. The textiles industry is also labor intensive and is one of the largest employers. The textile industry has two broad segments. 

• First, the unorganized sector consists of handloom, handicrafts and sericulture, which are operated on a small scale and through traditional tools and methods. 
• The second is the organized sector consisting of spinning, apparel and garments segment which apply modern machinery and techniques such as economies of scale. The Indian 

Textile sector supply chain management

Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to make products available when needed.

 The supply chain of a typical textile industry consists of:

•  Raw materials 
•  Ginning facilities 
•  Spinning and extrusion processes 
•  Processing sector 
•  Weaving and knitting factories 
•  Garment manufacturing

Effective supply chain management is important for the Indian textile industry. The interface between textiles and clothing is one field which needs more focus for the global competitiveness of the entire supply chain. There is a change from the conventional supply chain for textiles to the supply chain for clothes. There was an evolution in trends in India's textile supply chain and the need for an interface between textiles and clothing in the textile industry for successful supply chain management.

It is important to note that while new technology accelerates the trend towards 'value chain slicing' and manufacturing and services fragmentation, new management practises are pushing the business towards the convergence of the value chain and the creation of a holistic viewpoint, which stretches from retail customers at the teeth-end to the primary raw material manufactory. Advances in technology have allowed various stages in the value chain to be fragmented and delocalized. And it is precisely this development that has intensified the need to look holistically at the entire value chain. In other words, the better the development of technology, the greater the need to 'tie them all together' to draw on the synergistic benefits.