Careerwise - Why is the Textile Industry not being considered as a lucrative career choice in India?

CAREER IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

IS IT LUCRATIVE?

The textile and clothing industry is facing an immense challenge in mobilizing workers to fulfill production requirements, as many of them are moving to other well-paying jobs.

The crisis-like situation comes at a time when India is losing its competitive edge in export markets due to rising input costs, amid stiff competition from neighbouring nations like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and China.

Immediate steps to be taken to fight this situation and one cannot assure that this is the best industry to be chose as a career in the prevailing circumstances.

The textile firms in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Surat, Ahmedabad and Kolkata say that their units are utilizing only 50 to 60 per cent of production capacity due to severe labour shortage. They are worried that their margins are shrinking as they are not able to meet sale targets. Many textile owners are contemplating to move production units to interior areas where workers are available at low wages.

The current workforce in Indian textile and clothing industry is about 35 million with an equal number employed in allied industries.

This should move up to 47 million by 2015, including five million skilled workers and two million technical and other personnel, if growth projections are to be met.

Most workers earning about Rs. 7,000 a month are of migratory nature. They move from the agricultural sector to cities after the sowing season for half of the year and get back to villages when the harvest season starts.

But the government’s successful social sector schemes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is discouraging labour migration from rural to urban areas. The MGNREGA assures them 100 days of wage employment guarantee in a financial year.

There is a rampant shortage of workers in all segments of textile value chain that begins from cotton crop and leads to branding and retailing.The industry needs to pay higher wages, provide health insurance and ensure that factories comply with internationally acceptable standards, in order to improve the situation and make the industry more lucrative of people to choose as a careeroption.

Textile and clothing industry will not be able to upgrade technologically quickly and will find difficult to survive in export and domestic markets unless a massive skill development programme is launched to bridge the gap of managerial and technical cadre of professionals for the fibre-to-fashion chain of textile, apparel and retail industries. The government needs to think of holistic measures to improve the industry situation as a whole than working on training and employment drives….. as people are choosy and will choose industry sectors which are more paying and caring in comparison to the textile industry unless and until drastic measures are taken to help the industry as a whole.

Let us take clues from our nearest neighbor Srilanka:

Sri Lanka for the first time has seen its monthly export earnings surpassing the US $ 1 billion mark in March this year and the total export earnings during the first half of 2011 grew to a strong US $ 5,106 million from US $ 3,642 million over 2010. During the first half of 2011 industrial product exports has increased by a huge 49 percent. Nearly 87 percent of the export earnings during the first half of 2011 have derived from ten product categories. Textile and garments alone has contributed to a staggering 42.3 percent of the earnings.

Sri Lanka's Competitive Advantages in the Garment Sector

A well established, export oriented manufacturing industry.

A ready supply of raw material and an expanding resource base.

A literate, trainable workforce. The work force is highly productive, has good hand to eye coordination, proven precision and dexterity.

Sri Lanka's geographical location & infrastructure advantages.

Compliance with the best international labour and environmental laws and practices.

Prevailing Electronics Visa Information System (ELVIS).

Market and investor friendly policies of the government.

An array of attractive incentives extended for the textile/apparel industry.

Unlimited quota free access to the EU markets.

Preferential access to Indian market including duty-free concessions provided by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and India.

The Textile Industry in India

Less than 3 percent of the 12.8 million population joining the workforce every year have the opportunity for any kind of vocational or skill training. In this context, the "National Skill Deficit" is a reality and the Apparel Sector is one of the worst hit with acute skill shortage affecting the export units eroding fast India's competitiveness in the global apparel geography

The Indian Textile & Clothing (T&C) industry is one of the largest and critical industries in the Indian economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation. The industry contributes 4% to the country's GDP and 14% of the country's industrial production. The apparel industry is the largest employing sector next to the agriculture. The apparel exports contributed around US$ 11 billion to India's foreign exchange earnings in 2009-10.

The Indian T&C industry is also the largest employment generating industry in the manufacturing sector with direct employment of over 35 million people.  It is also estimated that about 45 million are indirectly employed in the entire textile value chain. Apparel being at the end of value chain before the consumer, the value edition is the highest with US dollar 2 of 1 kg cotton becoming 20 dollar US when converted as garments.  Thus, the need of the hour is to integrate the Textile & Apparel sector i.e. the fibre to fashion value chain in a garment-led growth strategy and the skill transferability needs to put in place through the value chain. This requires a comprehensive and pragmatic vocational and skill training strategy in different textile-apparel clusters to fill the knowledge & training gaps so that the industry can move up the value chain with the help of skilled workforce. Elucidating the case of textiles and apparel sector, it can be seen that for the upstream activities of spinning, weaving, knitting and processing, the projected employment requirements are 5.5 lakhs, 1.57 lakhs, 0.92 lakhs and 1.76 lakhs respectively for the period co-terminus with the 11th Five Year Plan. The downstream requirement for apparel sector is estimated to be in the range of 4 million to 7 million in the next 3 years or so. A CITI report has estimated the current work force in the textile and apparel industry to be around 35 million and has reckoned the same to move up to 47 million by 2015 including 5 million skilled workers and 2 million technical and other personnel. A CRISIL study had indicated a requirement of 12 million work force by 2010 with 5 million in the core technology production activities and the remaining 7 million in support and auxiliary services. With such opportunities projected for the textiles & apparel sector, how do we train the displaced agricultural labourers, the youth and women to seek gainful employment in the textile-apparel sector which is the largest employment generator after agriculture?  It would seem that the apparel sector has not been factored in sufficiently by the policy makers or HRD ministry in various schemes for education, training and linked employment generation. Ideally, textile and apparel sector in a country like India should have got a prominent place as it has the capacity to generate massive employment, both in urban and rural centres and to offer employment locally, which will reduce the migration to metros.  Nearly 20 years ago in Sri Lanka, the then Government provided attractive incentives of tax holiday for the unit as well as the mother company for setting up units in rural areas which have helped in shaping apparel-led rural economies.  Both the export and the domestic retail industries for fashion and apparel could have and certainly will, benefit from a clearer focus of skill development activities. 

NSDC Funded Organizations - 9 - GRAS Hospitality Services Ltd

GRAS Academy is an initiative of graduates from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta who share a common desire to bring about social change by empowering the unemployed and out - of - work youth with vocational skills and make them ‘Eduployable’ [Educated   + Employable], capable of earning a livelihood and support their families.

GRAS Academy was launched in 2006, primarily as a training institute oriented towards the hospitality and retail sectors in large metropolitan areas. Over the last two years, as we created and developed successful programs in these areas, our goals also evolved in recognition of the fact, that an increasing number of youth in smaller cities and towns may have completed schooling, but few have marketable skills. As a result, many remained unemployed or were forced to seek employment in the large urban areas, far from their families and support systems.

In 2008, GRAS launched its specialist division - Skill Development and Employment Centres (SD & EC), an expansion to encompass skill-development across a variety of industry verticals in which skills were increasingly needed in smaller cities and towns.

It is our hope and belief that such skill-development opens doors to newer options for youth, increase their income generation potential, help them in utilization of prior education and personal talents, motivate them to participate in productive activity and expose them to a variety of subjects to choose the option of expressing personal preference and ability thus helping them in acquiring a secured employment close to home.

The Government of India’s recent initiative policy – The National Skill Development Mission, aimed at ‘empowering all individuals to enable them to get access to decent employment and to promote inclusive national growth’ calls for public-private partnership to ensure that its goals are met.

'We are proud to be a partner in the process of skills creation and empowerment of our youth, and hope our endeavours will assist in social inclusion becoming a reality in our nation.

GRAS Academy aims at delivering programs that support individuals, corporate and government initiatives offering vocational training, skills development and support employment opportunities.

GRAS Vocational Education and Training (VET)

GRAS VET offers vocational training modules in the Hospitality, Retail and Spoken English, complemented with life-skills, for youth, seeking training in order to become more 'Eduployable’ [Educated  + Employable]. It also offers companies’ tailor-made programs to upgrade existing staff skill levels and recruit new staffs with basic essential skills.

GRAS Skills Development and Employment Centre (SD&EC) 

GRAS SD & EC provides to training to youth tied in with job placements. GRAS is a Government of India certified Vocational Training Provider.

GRAS Academy offers short duration job oriented courses to youth. These courses are of eight to twelve weeks duration and focus on specific skills development in areas that have been identified as having income generating potential for the students.

Assessment and certification to be done by PHD Chamber of Commerce for all our GRAS students.

Courses

GRAS Data Master (Basic Computer & Data Entry)

GRAS F&B Assistant (F&B Expert)

GRAS Mobile Tech
GRAS Sales Specialist (Selling Skills)
GRAS Compu Tech (Hardware Networking & Laptop Repairing)
GRAS Tally Pro (Tally Software)
GRAS SpeakSmart English (Primary)
GRAS SpeakSmart English (Advanced)
Automotive Repair
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

GRAS Corporate Office and Research Centre 

GRAS Academy headquarters are located in NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, near New Delhi. Its flagship training centre is located here, with state-of-the-art, modern training facilities, classrooms, library and training labs.

GRAS ACADEMY
Corporate Office & Research Centre
C-56A/28, 4th Floor, Above Union Bank of India
Sector 62, Noida – 201 301
Uttar Pradesh, INDIA
Phone   :             +91 120 423 0794 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +91 120 423 0794      end_of_the_skype_highlighting      
Fax       : +91 120 423 0794
Email     : info@grasacademy.in
Website: www.grasacademy.in

Careers in Renewable Energy – Solar Power - Institute of Solar Power Technologies & Vocational Training

ISPT is organization for providing Technical training programs on solar power technology established to support organizations who are looking for competent people and also for the individuals who are looking for self-employment.

Since solar power stands as a substitute for electrical energy and having high potential energy application areas in different fields like irrigation, Industrial and domestic sectors and having shortage of trained and skilled manpower due to lack of availability of training institutions either in public or private management institutions, hence the gap, in meeting current and future demand of energy requirement is huge. PLNS enterprises like to explore possibilities to meet the skill manpower requirements of the day and then by meeting the energy demand for current and future. And solar energy field is not much touched technologically and PLNS enterprises taken the responsibility to contribute its share to the nation’s energy demand as a social cause to train up the people in solar power technology.

ISPT conducted a study in length and breadth of India, to find the ways and means to fill the above gap and indentified one of the ways to develop the individual through vocational training programs in solar power technology and to develop competent people in the application of solar power technology PLNS enterprises identified following areas of to address during vocational training program and splited into 3 different groups of training programs APPLICATIONS CONFIGURATION INSTALLATION TESTING MAINTENANCE Courses offered : 4 weeks & 6 weeks correspondence Courses. 4 months Certification course 6 months Advanced Certification course on solar power technologies which are affiliated to Board of Technical Education, Andra Pradesh Through the above courses ISPT teaches: Applications Application is nothing but the need of the customer. Example Lighting, water heating, water pumping etc. Configuration Configuration nothing but is based on the need designing a system/ configuring a system Installation Once one designs a system it has to be installed . Installation is bring a system into working condition. Testing Once the system is installed one has  to test the system whether it is meeting all its parameters for which the system was designed Maintenance Any system requires two types of maintenance one is periodic maintenance & the other is Trouble shooting. Marketing Any product that comes into existence needs to be publicized, & Marketed. ISPTy teaches techniques required to market.   Medium of Instruction  is English & Telugu.  Study material is in English, Telugu, Hindi & Kannada to start with & over a period of time will be available in Marathi, Malayalam & Tamil also. For easy understanding and for future reference. Contact: Institute of Solar Power Technologies & vocational Training 6-3-788/A/9,Durga Nagar Ameerpet,Hyderabad-500 016 Ph No:040-23400166/0168 Email:cvkr29@gmail.com,   cvkr29@yahoo.com

Careers in Renewable Energy – Solar Power

Current Scenario in our Country:

Solar Energy represents the earth's most abundant energy resources. In our
country the average global radiation is around 5 kwh per sq.mtr. per day with
about 250-300 clear sunny days in a year in most areas in the country and
the same can be judiciously exploited to meet the ever increasing energy
requirements.

Solar Energy can be used in diverse ways and are divided into
two principal technologies for its utilization, viz., Solar Thermal and Solar
Photovoltaic. We are proud to say that we are the one & only Institute in the country imparting Skill Development Program on continuous & commercial basis. 

Solar energy Availability in India is so abundant that it can be harnessed for all the energy needs of the nation. With an intention to harness this source of Energy more aggressively our Govt. of India has come out with Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). This is one of the 8 Missions that have been taken up by the govt. under Copenhagen Climate Change Initiative. Target set under JNNSM is 20,000 mega watts of Solar Energy Generation by 2022.

Not only through this mission but also through National Energy Efficiency Mission under which PAT Scheme has been announced will also enhance the penetration of Alternate Energy utilization Especially Solar.

To achieve the goals set by the Govt. of India not only Money is required which they have provided for an amount of Rs.1,65,000/- corers of non lapsable fund has been created but they also require large pool of Skilled man power which is not available in India as of Today. As per the MNRE Estimates itself a minimum of 1lakh engineers are required to meet JNNSM targets. Under PAT Scheme it is being proposed that every Telephone tower should be run using Solar Power Pack, Every Thermal Power Station should install Large Scale Solar Hot Water systems for initial heating of water in place of oil fired boilers that are in use now. Even in the Domestic sector State Govt’s. have started insisting Solar Hot Water system Installation being made mandatory for Plan approvals and subsequent rebates are being offered in Property Tax to Electricity bills etc for certain no of years in addition to the subsidy available on the Solar water Heater. Same way Solar Cities have been announced and in the next five year plan India plans to have 400 such cities across the nation. Under Remote Rural Electrification Program Off Grid Solar Power Plants are being encouraged as a policy across the nation and is being implemented under PPP or BOT models.

 ·         Immense opportunities for Skilled Manpower

Opportunities are immense  Skilled Man power requirement is going to steadily grow with so many new manufacturing units coming up and prices of Solar Products that have been falling steadily world over and with shortage of power supply by the utilities the demand is bound to grow.  World over including the Middle east job Opportunities are growing for Skilled manpower in this most dynamic field. It is our strong belief that the next Biggest revolution that the world is going to witness is going to be Solar Energy after IT & ITES.

·         Shortage of Skilled Manpower

 It’s a Fact that today Solar Industry is crippled by the absence of skilled manpower availability especially in the fields of Design, Installation, Testing & Maintenance.  We the Institute of Solar Power Technologies & Vocational Training are trying to fill the gap. We are also training Prospective Rural Entrepreneurs who can start a micro units in Mandals and cover the 25 t0 30 villages each mandal has under its belt thus taking the penetration of Solar Energy Appliances like Solar Home Lighting systems, Solar Street Lights, Solar Cookers, Solar Water Heaters, Solar Pumps, Solar Desalination, Solar Driers etc. into rural areas.

As per the Industry estimates Solar Energy field requires a bare minimum of 8 to 10 lack skilled manpower which is inclusive of  Engineers, Diploma Holders, ITI certified technicians, & Installers with next decade.

There is a no skilled manpower in this Industry and whatever little is available today have learnt the job on the field. Not had any formal training. Today there is an immediate demand for Installation & Maintenance skilled labor of different Solar Based systems like Water Heaters, Street Lights, Home Lighting systems, Roof Top Power Plants etc. all over India. All state government in India is implementing different schemes to promote solar systems.  In Andhra Pradesh some Municipal corporations are implementing a G.O for installation of Solar Water Heating Systems in New building they are not giving construction permission without this. It’s already implemented in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.

The National Solar Mission plan of the Govt of India which has come into force from 14^th Nov – 2009 aims at bringing in an investment of Rs.1, 65,000/- crores by the year 2020 in India. Government of India wants to generate 20,000mgwatts of solar power by the year 2020. Today we generate about 2.5 t0 3mgwatt of power in a dissipated way like all the installed water heaters, Solar Lanterns, Solar Pump Sets, Home lights, Street Lighting etc. The scope is vast. It is the next biggest revolution that is on the verge of explosion similar to what we have witnessed in the IT sector.

BY THE NUMBERS

India’s significant energy demand demonstrates the importance of investing in alternative energy sources.

India’s global ranking in terms of energy use. 5

The percentage of India’s population that has little or no access to commercial energy. 40%

The approximate amount of financial investment in India’s clean energy sector in 2009. US$2.96BN

The percentage of India’s total electricity grid that comprises of renewable energy. 10.9%

The percentage of India’s grid-connected renewable energy that comes from wind power.75%

NSDC Funded Organizations - 8 - Gram Tarang

Gram Tarang Employability Training Services is a social entrepreneurial initiative in skill training for employability & self employment of youth ranging fromschool dropouts to engineering graduates across the eastern states of India. The idea was seeded in 2006 with an intervention in Paralakhemundi district headquars of Gajapati, one of the most extremist affected districts of Orissa with a machinist training program for school dropouts run in partnership with the Tool Room, Ministry of MSME. Since then, Gram Tarang has trained over 7,000 youth across various industry sectors with a placement record of78% through strong partnerships with the industry. The most notable government partnerships include NSDC, where Gram Tarang was selected as their second ever partner to train 45,000 youth by 2020, as well as Ministry of Rural Development, where Gram Tarang is implementing a special project under SGSY aiming to train 10,000 BPL youth by 2013.


Industry Sectors:
Core Engineering & Manufacturing (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Fabrication ) | Automotive| Apparel & Textiles | Mining, Construction & Allied | Retail & Hospitality | Banking & Finance | IT & ITES


Trades:
Fitter | Machinist | CNC Operator | CNC Programmer | AutoCAD | ProE | Welder | Electrician | VLSI Design Auto Mechanic | Service Technician | Driver | Sewing Machine Operator | Retail Salesperson | Front Office Assistant | Data Entry Operator | BPO Operator | DTP | Hardware & Networking | CCNA | Banking Correspondent (BC) |Rural Retail Banking Facilitator


http://www.gramtarang.in/

D-206 | KSR Green Valley | Madhavadhara | Vishakapatnam 530 018 Tel: (08951) 6587657 | Fax: (08951) 2855092

Career Wise - Careers by Choice - List of institutes offering Education s in Retail Management- India -

There are multiple educational institutions offering education in the field of retail management. These institutions offer Diploma, Degree and Post Graduate Degree. The mode of learning is part time, full time, online and correspondence. Many of the courses offer on the job training and placement assistance too.


Apart from this there are thousands of vocational training institutes offering short term courses in the field of retail management.These short term courses offer an entry into the retail industry at a starter level and over a period of time with experience and by enrolling into courses on a part time or online learning basis one could aspire to grow up the growth ladder.


Click on the link below to find hundreds of courses, institutes and whole lot of information.


 http://www.shiksha.com/search/index?keyword=degree+retail+management&location=india&searchType=course&cat_id=&countOffsetSearch=&startOffSetSearch=0&subLocation=-1&cityId=-1&cType=-1&courseLevel=-1&subType=0&showCluster=-1&channelId=