PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEMINAR ON “IMPROVING AVAILABILITY OF GRADED INDIAN RAW WOOL & YARN FOR INCREASING EXPORT OF QUALITY HANDMADE CARPETS”
Introductory speech was delivered by Mr. A.C. Chaudhuri, Advisor, WRA on the theme of the seminar and the idea of Grading in Indian Carpet Wool, mostly grown in Rajasthan and Gujarat, emanating from the action plan of XI Five Year Period, by none other than the Textile Commissioner himself who had taken keen interest on the subject and made himself available for the occasion. He also introduced the eminent persons sitting on the dias for the inaugural session namely (from left to right) Dr. S.K. Chaudhuri, Director, Woolmark Company, Shri. K.C. Bothra, Managing Director, Bikaner Woollen Mills, Shri. Ravikant Kapur, President, WRA, Shri. J.N.Singh, Textile Commissioner, Mumbai, Mrs. Muktanidhi Samnotra, Director (Wool), Ministry of Textiles, Shri. Sagar Rayka, Chairman, Central Wool Development Board, Mr. John Bates, CEO, Romney, New Zealand and Shri. Om Prakash, Executive Director, Central Wool Development Board
Mr. Chaudhuri also welcomed all others gathered in the hall, comprising of delegates from Bikaner Wool Industry, Wool Traders, Spinners, Manufacturers, Exporters of Carpet from other parts of the country and the guests from New Zealand alongwith the dignitaries from the Government Agencies, like Textile Commissioner’s Office, CWDB, CSWRI and MOT. He also mentioned that Dr. S.K. Chaudhuri would be presiding over the subsequent business session during the day for compering the deliberations during rest of the seminar.
Mr. Chaudhuri thanked all the coordinating agencies like Wools of New Zealand and Romney, CWDB, Woolmark Company, Bikaner Wool Industry, CEPC, etc and the sponsors namely M/s Laxmi Woollen Mills, Bikaner (for hosting the lunch), M/s Indian Card Clothing Co. Ltd., Pune (for hosting the tea / coffee/ refreshments) and M/s Daulat Biofibres Ltd, Bikaner (for the mementos for all the speakers).
He also
extended invitation to all the participants on behalf of Shri. K.C. Bothra for
joining for Dinner at his residence for the evening. There after he requested Shri.J.N.Singh, Textile Commissioner,
Mumbai to present his keynote address.
Before the
address of the Textile Commissioner all the dignitaries on the dias joined
together under his leadership to light the traditional lamp as a token of
formal inauguration of the seminar.
Textile
Commissioner, Shri. J.N. Singh started his address by appreciating the
initiative taken by The Wool Research Association personnel, including the
President, WRA, Shri.A.C.Chaudhuri, Advisor, WRA, Mrs. G.P. Rane, Dy. Director,
WRA and others on the topic of improving the quality and quantity of Indian
Carpet Wool production which is the need of the hour for the carpet export oriented
industry. He was happy to come over to
Bikaner to meet the assembly of dignitaries from all sectors of wool industry
right from the wool growing to trading, spinning, manufacturing and export of
Indian carpets in different parts of the country. He was impressed by the fact that the delegates from New Zealand
a country of good quality carpet wool production has come all the way to attend
the seminar and to share their experience and expertise for the growth of
Indian Carpet Industry. He expressed satisfaction
that over the years the production of carpet wool in the country has grown from
about 150 lac kgs to 250 lac kgs and that the consumption is steadily growing
up by 10 to 12% in the last few years.
He remarked that to overcome the growing gap between the production and
consumption of Indian wool for the export oriented carpet industry, necessary
measures should be taken to increase the quality and quantity of the wool in
the production and consumption for greater value addition on lines of cotton
value addition by production of high quality Bt grade Cotton. He expected the export performance of the
carpet industry to grow from about Rs.4000 – 5000 crores to Rs.10,000 crores by
the end of 11th Five Year Plan.
He assured adequate initiatives and measures from the Government for the
growth and achievement of this target by the industry. Among the measures already initiated by the
Government he mentioned about TUF Scheme, which has come to an end this year but
extended further for another 5 years.
Wool Industry in general, he said, has under-utilized the benefit of
this scheme and he advocated that this facility should be utilized by the
carpet industry for value addition and growth.
He expected a meaningful deliberations/ recommendations during the day.
The next speaker was Shri. Sagar Rayka, Chairman, CWDB, who explained the efforts taken by CWDB in improving the infrastructure and problems of the Wool Growing and Processing Industry in Bikaner. In this connection he mentioned about proposed setting up of Common Effluent Treatment Plant for Bikaner Wool Industry and a industry delegation to China. He has since taken up the matter with the concerned Minister in Delhi alongwith the concept of minimum support price for procurement of wool from the growers on similar lines as agricultural commodity. Insurance scheme for the shepherd and his flock is anther measure taken up strongly with Government for implementation by the initiative of CWDB, he said.
In the prevailing environment of decontrolled and global play for all industries including textiles, necessitating greater interaction and initiative by the participating local wool industry for quality concept and regulatory measures, Shri. Ravikant Kapur, President of WRA briefed about the infrastructural facilities available at the laboratories of WRA including NABL Accredited quality testing lab for chemical and mechanical testing of textiles, colour, designing and knitting (CAD-CAM), eco parameters, pilot plant processing for wool and other speciality animal fibres, training and certificate courses, etc. He also mentioned about the action plan and initiatives being taken to develop further machinery and the expertise build-up in the form of “Center of Excellence for Wool” at WRA for giving services to this part of the world, through dialogues with international bodies like New Zealand and Australian Wool Industry. As regards increasing the availability of carpet grade Indian wool for better quality and quantity, he listed out a series of measures / action plan, starting with proper grading and combined efforts to segregate best known carpet breed sheep for selective breeding and for cross-breeding with Romney type New Zealand breed on breeds like inferior & widespread Marwadi breed, so as to increase the fleece and body weight resulting into better returns to the farmers at the ground level.
Shri. Om
Prakash, Executive Director, CWDB, explained in brief about the formation and
functions of CWDB in the year 1987 mainly to improve quality and quantity of
Indian wool and measures to improve its consumption, through collective efforts
with respective State Wool Boards / Federations and, also to accentuate
production and utilization of speciality animal fibres like angora and pashmina
through activities engaged by CWDB towards this end. Through quality
improvement programme for scouring, dyeing and finishing facilities for the
cluster areas, through health care programmes for better management of sheep at
farmers level, wool marketing programme, through Expo, Exhibition, etc.
weaving, training programme, creation of designing and testing facilities, etc.
On behalf of the Bikaner Small Scale Wool Industry, Dr. R.B. Mohata expressed his appreciation for the seminar being arranged by WRA at Bikaner on the topic of Grading and increased production & consumption of Indian Wool and assured cooperation from the Bikaner Wool Industry & whole heated support for all the initiatives to be taken up in this direction for the betterment of the wool industry.
Immediately
after the tea break the first business session started with the presentation of
4 important papers.
The first
paper presented was by Shri. Anurag Purohit – Incharge of Weaving and Designing
Centre, CWDB at Kullu. He made a crisp
and concise presentation on the practices and shortcomings of Grading of Indian
Carpet Wool. According to him the term
“Grading of Wool, as an essential ingredient of marketing”, is almost missing
in Indian context. He emphasized on the
importance of grading of wool for attaining optimum spinnability and proper
utilization. Grading is needed to
improve the lot of wool breeders and growers.
Some of his suggestions included :
a.
Characterisation of various indigenous wools to develop a
need based wool grading system.
b.
Research on raw wool sample evaluation methods / instruments
to help grading at various centers in wool growing areas.
c.
Grading to be practiced at the time of shearing to avoid
mixing of undesirable cuttings.
d.
Machine shearing to be evolved at ground level to get consistent
length of the fleece.
e.
As far as possible area and breed-wise segregation should be
made to determine the quality of wool.
f.
Minimum requirement
of grading parameters should include micron, length, burr content, yield and
colour.
The second
speaker was Shri. Meghraj Bothra, Secretary Rajasthan Wool Industries
Association. In his brief address he
informed about the formation of the association in the year 1960 and its
activities & steady progress alongwith that of Wool Industry during last
many years. More than 300 carding
machines are feeding the spinning industry in Bikaner where more than
1,12,500/- tonnes of wool is traded round the year. The wool is lifted by the industry to cater to the export
oriented carpet industry which is worth around 4000 crores today. Of late, imported raw wool trading comprises
the major chunk of the lot to an extent of about 1 lac tonnes. His appeal to the Government was for
uniform restructuring of the Custom Duty for all imported wool into the country
priced below 30 cents.
The third
speaker was Mr. John Bates, CEO, Romney, New Zealand, the auspicious speaker
who gave a pictorial presentation about the rearing and management of Romney,
New Zealand sheep originating from Romney Marsh in England since 1843. The present population of Romney sheep in
New Zealand is said to be around 20 million out of the total of 40 million
sheep. It is farmed in the near
sub-tropic northern most parts of North Island at 34 latitude, south to the
southern most part of New Zealand at 47 latitude. The New Zealand Romney is recognized for its ability to tolerate
the varied and extreme climates found in New Zealand. In 1904 Romney New Zealand was established. 130 Romney stud breeders supply rams to 4000
commercial sheep farmers. The wool industry in New Zealand is monitored by a
wool testing and certification authority.
Sheep rearing in New Zealand contributes to 80% income of the farmers as
against 20% from wool trading. Romney
wool, which is strong, lustrous and long carpet grade category with an average
yield of 6 kgs per annum per eve, has the characteristics for blending with
Indian Chokla for branding for best carpet wool blends. A collaborative project
between the two countries, the details of which are to be worked out and finalized
is foreseen.. He also made a remark
about the low yield the Chokla wool has in comparison with the Romney, on which
Shri. K.C. Bothra wanted to draw a line between the generalized term “Chokla”
and “Bikaneri Chokla”, which is acclaimed to be the best carpet breed sheep
which produces around 2.5 kgs wool per annum.
Next
speaker before the lunch break was Dr. A.M. Mir, Vice President, Kashmir
Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In
his paper detailing about raw material for the Indian Carpet Industry, Dr. Mir
dwelt upon the versatility of the industry producing qualities starting from an
average knottage density of less thann150 to about 500 knots per square inch
and also about the silk carpets running upto 900 knots, requiring raw materials
at variance in their quality and price in the form of wool, silk, cotton, jute
etc. The quality of wool as a major
raw material, to meet the requirements of wide range of carpets for production
through woollen, semi-worsted, worsted yarns is a task in itself. Luster, according to him was one important
characteristics which, in general, the Indian wools lack and New Zealand wool
flourishes in. This factor has to be
taken into consideration for making blends to compete with international
marketing alongwith dyeing and finishing aspects as a measure of value
addition. Development of Indian wools
of the type Chokla, Magra, Mali and
other important ones needed proper attention.
Promotion of Indian wools should be addressed as a coordinated approach
to achieve desirable goals with establishment of raw material banks in carpet
producing areas.
There was a brief open discussion concentrating towards observations made in the foregoing four papers. Dr. Arora (CSWRI) urged on the need for blend trials to be made of good quality Indian and New Zealand wools for processing carpet yarn to which, Chairman Dr. S.K. Chaudhuri replied that such types of trials were made by IWS and WRA in the past within the country and also in New Zealand. Dr. V.K. Singh (CSWRI) opined that breeding programmes with Romney March were conducted by CSWRI way back in the ‘70s and that the results of these experiments should be considered before venturing into a fresh study. Shri. Rajaram Gupta, Dr.K.K. Goswami and Shri. Ravikant Kapur also participated in the discussion. Mr. Shreyansh Bothra of Bikaner Woollen Mills expressed the hope that import of Card Clothing for the Woolen Industry would be made less prohibitive in terms of high duty from the present level of 30%, under the new initiatives taken by Government for the benefit of the wool industry. Textile Commissioner advised that agency like WRA /CWDB should, in consultation with other stakeholders in the industry, prepare a list of necessary items /machineries, for the industry, etc that are to be looked into for concession / reduction in cost duty, etc. The session ended with this remark.
After sumptuous lunch the second business session started with Mr. K.C. Bothra’s presentation “Raw maerial for the Indian Carpet Industry”, a veteran in the industry and advisory of “Bikaneri Chokla” wool, deemed to be the best carpet wool in the world. He said that description of the characteristics of Bikaneri Chokla Wool suits to the requirements of the ideal carpet in terms of micron, length, strength, resilience and luster. He gave an account of the analysis of trade and practice in wool merchandise. Cheaper blends made of cheaper wools are a bane of the present trend alonwgith the threat of extension of the Bikaneri Chokla breed because of unscrupulous breeding and distortion of the wool quality and also quantity. A healthy Bikaneri Chokla sheep produces not less than 2.5 kgs of wool fleece in a year and the need of the hour was to take all measures to save this breed and to improve upon its number by selective breeding programme in a concerted manner.
The second speaker in this session was Mr. A.K. Pal from Indian Carding Co. Ltd, Pune. The theme of his lecture was that a good card is an essential factor for manufacture of good carpet yarn. Carding is the first and the foremost mechanical processing of wool which is known as the heart of spinning.
Talking about the carding performance he listed out mechanical condition, dynamic and static balancing of cylinders, good card clothing and its mounting and maintenance as the major parameters. He also elaborated on the recent developments in the concept and framing of carding with the inclusion of data control system for card waste analysis, vegetable matter, impurities, etc. He also gave an account of developments in Card Clothing.
The next speaker Mr. Champakmal Surana of Saswani Woollen Mills was the next speaker who enlightened on the concept of blending of different wools based on the quality of yarn as a resultant product and ultimately, end use requirement for the type and quality of the carpet. Over the years, his general observation of the industry has been that the sense of quality consciousness is fading. Upkeeping the quality also means maintenance and upkeeping of quality machinery. He called upon all who are concerned about the wool industry in Bikaner to gear up and face the present challenge of other fibres replacing wool as raw material for floor-covering and similar products.
The next speaker was Mr. Rajaram Gupta from Mughal Carpets who presented his paper on “Marketing of Quality Carpets in the world market with emphasis on marketing of Indian carpets”. His paper described the desirable parameters in the inputs of carpet making starting from the wool mix, yarn making and other components of processing like dyeing, design, washing, finishing and quality control. In the present era Indian handmade carpet should be seen as industrial product subject to intense competition from countries like Iran, Pakistan, China, Nepal, etc rather than a piece of art. There is a wide spectrum of market segments like industrial housing, hotels, shopping centers, malls and neo rich homes as new consumers needing innovation in product development. He also gave statistics and recent trends in exports to USA, Germany and other countries from India in the recent years. He requested Textile Commissioner and Government of India for help in modernization of carpet industry, as part of package deal to the entire textile industry. Basic facility and infrastructure at rural level of the industry needs modernization. There is potential for additional employment of 2 million rural artisans and to increase the exports to a level of Rs.10,000 crores in about 5 years time with some encouragement coming from the Government policy initiatives.
The next speaker comes from M/s
E.Hill and Co. Shri. K.K. Saha, CEO, who presented his paper entitled “India’s
handmade Oriental Carpets – Potential for Exports”. From his paper he listed out export statistics of Indian handmade
carpet industry from the year 2000 through 2006, growing at an average rate of
around 8%. He emphasized that there is
a good scope for increased exports in the near future in comparison with China
based on cost competitiveness. Further,
he impressed upon cost cutting as a measure to combat competition from China
and Pakistan. Thirdly, he visualized
machine made carpets as a major competitor to the handmade carpet
industry. Among the measures he
suggested to overcome the drawbacks, the important one was to set up joint
sector corporation to build-up facilities for storing of wools near spinning
mills to get regulated price and quality of wool raw material. His second suggestion was to consider
reduction of import duty on raw wool.
Finance and Credit facilities at all levels of carpet manufacture are
demanded by him. Import of Ghazani wool
from Pakistan / Afghanistan should be freely allowed to the industry to improve
creativeness in texture and design.
Branding of “India made”
carpets, innovation, improved infrastructure and marketing strategy were also
proposed.
Dr.A.L. Arora from CSWRI read the paper related to
“Development of Bikaneri Sheep” with white and lustrous fleece of very good
quality. The sheep breed is well
distributed in Bikaner, Nagaur, Jaisalmer and Churu district of eastern and
southern parts of Bikaner. The main
thrust area of his paper was to preserve the Bikaneri Chokla breed sheep with a
study for characterization on priority basis, for its morphological,
molecular, production and reproduction traits.
Wool should be declared as an
agricultural commodity with a price support system similar to cotton, jute and
others.
Inclusion of Wool under
National Cooperative Development Council list to help low rate financing from
NABARD.
Bikaneri Chokla strain
improvement from selective breeding by distribution of quality rams.
After the recess for tea break, the deliberations entered into its final stage with three more presentations. Dr. K.K. Goswami, Director, Indian Institute of Carpet Technology was the first to make his presentation on the activities and measures taken by IICT, situated as it is, in the midst of the carpet belt of Varanasi – Bhadohi – Mirzapur. Dr. Goswami introduced the audience on the development of software “CARPCOST” – a cost quality control software for the carpet industry developed by IICT. With this it is said that reduction in Indian hand-knotted carpet cost is possible when manufacturers / exporters feed inputs to analyse the same with respect to parameters like consumption of raw material and its types alongwith quality and price with other variable factors affecting the final product cost. Software can be customized also as per individual need and requirement in its subsequent versions. Software is open for menu-oriented use for hand-knotted and hand –tufted variety of floor coverings. Among other achievements Dr. Goswami mentioned about the development of a new type of hand-knot called “INDRA KNOT” for the use of carpet industry at IICT. He also explained about development of a new backing cloth for tufted carpets.
The next speaker was Mrs. G.P. Rane, Deputy Director, Wool Research Association. In her paper entitled “Need for intensive research and development and quality assurance in the Indian wool growing industry” she pressed for a national system for Indian wools grading and marketing which is need of the hour so as to specify the quality and end use suitability of available wool in the country. This would create grading area as an employment opportunity at village level, adding value to the wool clip to the producers at farmers level and clear description of fibre parameters to the processing industry, specifically spinners. It is essentially a rural and agrarian based upliftment programme for betterment of woollen industry, defence, export and foreign exchange earnings.
There is a pressing requirement to determine the properties of Indian carpet wools that form the key price determinants and develop methodologies to measure these at the village level. By establishing objectives or semi-objective methodologies a firm basis to quantify the important attributes of wool quality can be established and provide a platform for the improvement of fibre quality.
The third speaker was Dr. V.K. Singh, Ex-Director, CSWRI, presented his paper on “Carpet /Wool production in Rajasthan with special reference to Bikaneri Chokla”. Dr. Singh gave an elaborate description about the sheep genetic resources of Rajasthan and about nine predominant breeds alongwith the data on their population, wool production, quality and performance traits. He raised important issues identified for improvement and conservation of Bikaneri Chokla wool as follows :
Ø Inadequate availability of improved breeding rams
Ø Poor exploitation of genetic potential of available
stock
Ø Lack of breed registration society and Breed
conservation programmes
Ø Shortage of feed resources and nutritional deficiency
resulting in migration
Ø High mortality and morbidity due to poor health
coverage and disease monitoring and reporting system
Ø Lower replacement rate due to reproduction problem in
sheep
Ø Socio- economic backwardness, lack of awareness,
training and education of farmers
Ø Inadequate marketing and credit support for wool
based programmes.
Among the improvement strategies for
Bikaneri Chokla breed, he underlined the need for phenotypical and genetic
characterization of the breed so as to develop genetically superior rams and
establishment of open nucleus flocks as a first measure. Production of rams through nucleus flocks
for bringing in improvement in overall production through proper
programmes. Several state / Central
Government sheep breeding farms may be roped in /mandated to produce and
maintain a reservoir of rams to be supplied to farmers. He also insisted on declaring wool as an
agricultural commodity and to make available facilities for better sheep
rearing in terms of water, fodder and disease control resources.
After this Dr. S.K. Chaudhuri, Chairman for all the business sessions summarized the content of all the 13 speakers and their presentations. To address to the present scenario, internationalization and innovation are the only key to success remarked Dr. Chaudhuri after summing up the entire days deliberations.
Further, on globalizations he mentioned the
following 3 criteria for success :
In an attempt to upgrade on the Indian
Wool he said that around 121 million kgs of wool is processed in the country
out of which only 38 million kgs are sourced indigenously and the rest being
out-sourced and imported, mainly from following countries :
New Zealand – 14 m. kgs
Australia - 19 m. kgs
South Africa - 1 m. kgs
Rest from other countries
Industry criteria includes wool growing,
processing R &D and marketing. The
gap between demand and supply of quality carpet wool in the country is the
subject of address and action for the carpet industry’s growth.