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Tirupur Knit Industry Should
Emulate Australian Cricket Team
Says Mr. Arjun Bhaskaran of Reach Technologies
The Bangalore based Reach Technologies, a solution provider for the global soft goods business, is striving to address the issues confronting the apparel clusters in Tirupur by providing necessary IT tools, said Mr.m Arjun Bhaskaran, Head (Cluster Initiative), Reach Technologies. He gave an interview to the press people during his visit to Tirupur to participate in a conference held in the city.
According to him, Tirupur plays a significant role in the production of knit fabrics. India is now exporting garments worth more than 9 million US dollars per annum. Though the growth may considered phenomenal, we should not lose sight of the fact that countries the size of a State in India are exporting more than what we do.
Countries such as Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia has reached a stunning growth. Even tiny countries one could not easily spot on the global map are doing very well in the export with the help of technology.
Cluster development should be seen on a global scale; it should not be viewed as competition between Tirupur, Bangalore and Noida. We can win the trust of the global market only with quality, innovation, price and speed of delivery. Delay in taking decisions, operational roadblocks, lack of managerial skill are the bottlenecks that prevent growth. What’s needed is a sense of team spirit. If all the companies in a cluster function with proper coordination and understanding, the growth would be impressive.
There’s unity even among call taxi operators. They have learnt the value of team spirit. Take for instance the automobile industry. The spare parts are manufactured in different parts. They are all assembled at one place to take the shape of a car or a bike. Now we have access to information technology and software which can be effectively leveraged in the knit sector to achieve world class standards.
According to a survey by an independent apparel research organisation, because of lack unity and coordination Tirupur loses one billion US dollars annually. The all India loss is Rs. 4 billion US dollars per annum. What a colossal waste. This could be avoided only if we make use of available technologies. Apparel industry and information technology should be like parallel running railway track. Only then the engine of growth could pick up momentum.
The overseas market will not recognise Tirupur as the best cluster simply because there are many units functioning in one area. Integration and coordination is the key to achieve the best cluster status. Both Indian and Australian Cricket Teams have the same number of players. But can we really compare the two teams based on the numbers alone? If Tirupur should emerge as a global champion, we should display the winner attitude and play to win. In order to win in the global arena, we need to induct information technology in our team.
We should always keep in mind that we are the sub contractors for overseas customers. Local orders should not limit our thinking. Only then we can think of getting overseas orders directly. Even overseas companies make use of the products and services offered by IT companies like ours. The banking sector too has effectively utilized the information technology to perform on par with global banks.
Reach Technologies is the only Indian Company to supply software for the apparel industry in countries such as USA, Europe and China. We are proud of the fact that our software and hardware would play a significant role in the growth of Indian apparel industry. We are also in the process of setting up a 5000 sq.ft. Office in Tirupur” he said.
Reach Technologies has been funded by Mr. N.S. Raghavan, who was one of the founders and former managing director of Infosys. The Bangalore based Reach Technologies has expanded its reach and has operations in countries such as USA, England, Germany, Singapore, Hongkong, China. The company employs more than 225 persons and has more than 450 customers in India and abroad.
‘Adman’ S.A.Manikandan has made arrangements for the press conference.
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