Textile Industry

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I have plagiarised the title of T S Eliot’s drama Murder in the Cathedral because of its broad commonalty in the theme with the book under review. In a misfeasance moment, King Henry instigated the murder of Archbishop Becket who was one of the pillars of the realm. Similarly in pursuance of a misconceived theology, the government of India unwittingly killed the cotton mill industry, which was one of the foundations of India’s economy. The only difference was that Becket died swiftly, dispatched by the sword, in his cathedral. The mill industry, on the other hand, was progressively crushed by the steady piling of the diktats of the Congress-controlled state. It amounted to murder nonetheless.

The Indian textile industry is too fragmented and obsolete to benefit from the market openings which will follow the elimination of quota restraints. Evasion of excise duty is the basis of competitive advantage in the domestic textile industry, and this has driven the better units in the organised sector away from the domestic market into exports. But exporting units are vulnerable if they are deprived of access to the domestic market. It may be too late for government to untangle the knots it has created, but at least the 2002-03 budget proposals are a step in the right direction.

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