Weaving segment is expected to play a key role in the coming years in India, according to many industry experts. One indicator is the fact that many yarn companies are thinking of entering weaving activities. Besides, those leaders in textile industry, who are cash-rich and strong in fundamentals are likely to boost their weaving capacities. Sales of shuttleless looms to India from European giants have gone up significantly in the last year. A recent visit to an exhibition in Bhiwandi, a key area of powerlooms in the country, revealed the rising trend in import of Chinese looms. One cannot ignore those powerloom industry from Solapur & a few towns in Maharashtra and some areas in Tamil Nadu, which are queuing up to buy these Chinese looms, adequate enough to satisfy the domestic demand for average quality textile goods like bedsheets, towels and cheaper furnishing materials. The demand is still high for such goods in the price-sensitive, smaller towns of the country. According to an energy report, energy cost in most of the Solapur is around 8 to 10 percent of manufacturing cost in a typical manufacturing unit, out of which the cost of electrical energy works out to 58 percent of the total energy cost and remaining accounts for thermal energy. Major barriers in the upgradation of technology in the Solapur cluster are non-availability of technology, distrust on technology supplier, lack of awareness about energy efficiency among small and medium enterprises, preventing them from adoption of energy efficient technologies. These factors dealt a heavy blow and many units downed shutters in the past. This also is the reason, why these units are rushing to buy rapier looms from China, which are an upgrade from shuttlelooms to the world of modern weaving system and shutteless weaving. Rapier looms have been designed to replace the old shuttle looms without any major changes to the existing infrastructure. An agent importing Chinese looms told the Editor of this magazine that he could sell 600 rapier looms in just 2 years. But opinions on the quality of these looms are divided among experts, who question whether this weaving of a new dream will last. Only time will tell.
