China's "Labor Shortage" Is Good For India's Clothing Industry

In the manufacturing industry, the shadow of "labor shortage" always lingers.

China's "labor shortage" just gave its rivals a chance to turn over.

Due to China's "labor shortage", orders for clothing industry in India from Europe and the United States have increased by more than 10%. For China's "labor shortage", India media optimistically predicted: "India's manufacturing opportunities are coming." "India economic times" commented: "after ten years of rapid development, Chinese industry is facing more and more turbulent situation. Thanks to the one-child policy that makes China's labor costs more and more high, India finally has the chance to replace China as the world's factory. "

From world logistics to world factory

A legend is still widely circulated in India.

It is said that in 90s of last century, a senior official from China's Ministry of foreign trade visited India and said, "I came to India to see what China will develop in 15-20 years." His intention may not be that China is 20 years behind India, but is afraid that with the reform and opening up and industrialization, Chinese society will also see the chaos of India at that time. But many Indians believe that their country has an advantage over China in international competition.

Seeing the new factories in Europe and the United States settled in Vietnam, Indonesia and Central Asia, India's economic circles also shouted: "new opportunities are coming."

India's economic community is not blind and optimistic. Its population structure is far superior to that of China. The United Nations predicts that in the next 2010-2020 years, India will add 120 million of its workforce, while China will provide only 1900 million new labor force in the same period. In 10 years, the gap between the two countries will be more obvious. China has entered an aging society, and its labor force has been decreasing. There are still hundreds of millions of people in India looking for jobs.

Thanks to the success of IT and service industries, India is now known as the "logistics of the world". In the future, India will also become a world factory. According to a joint study released by DDT global manufacturing group and the United States competitiveness Commission, the competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry ranks first in the world. There is nothing to make a fuss about. But India can surpass South Korea, the United States and Japan to become the second most competitive country in manufacturing competitiveness.

In fact, the report stresses the three word "competitiveness", that is, potential. India has a large number of scientific and engineering personnel, a skilled workforce in English, and a government management system that can flexibly formulate policies. Considering these advantages, DDT's global manufacturing group predicted that India would become the world's leading manufacturing center.

But is the manufacturing potential of India really superior to China's potential?

The low cost of squeezing women workers

At present, in China, it is only possible to find products with the word "made in India". The textile industry is the most important manufacturing industry in India. Textile exports account for 16.6% of India's exports every year.

Bangalore is regarded as the IT industry center in India, but many people do not know that it is one of the most developed areas in India's textile industry. Every morning, the train slowly sailed into the Bangalore station. In a few minutes, tens of thousands of young girls rushed to the station exit - they were the textile workers living in the surrounding towns, and the farthest lived in a small town more than 40 kilometers away.

At present, there are 35 million textile workers in India. As the largest textile exporter in the world, there are only 19 million textile workers in China. In Bangalore alone, there are more than 1200 garment factories and more than 500 thousand textile and garment workers. {page_break}

These textile mills are now waiting for China's missed orders. Because since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008, the life here has been hard. Orders from Europe and the United States dropped sharply, and factories could only lay off a lot of jobs. For the first time, Indians realized that textile industry did not provide stable jobs.

Most of the garments produced in Bangalore can only be sold by supermarkets in Europe and America. In 2009, a garment factory called Sonal was shut down due to lack of orders, and 1500 workers were unemployed at the same time. In the small town of Duda and Bala Poole, most young people worked in Bangalore garment factories 30 kilometers away. In 2009, one out of every 4 people in the town was unemployed.

At the worst time, 500 thousand textile workers in India were unemployed.

The clothing factory is the first stop for many rural girls in India to get out of their homes and find jobs. They may be the only places where they can find jobs.

India scholar Suhasini Singh (Suhasini Singh) commented: "India is spinning around the world." Clothing industry The success has been built on the basis of countless women sacrificing their basic rights and interests. It is almost impossible for women workers to sew more than 100 clothes per hour on many production lines. They have no rest days, or even have time to go to the toilet. According to data from the India Center for disease control, 80% of India's TB patients are textile workers because their workshops are in a bad environment, and a lot of bacteria and viruses are attached to the floating fibers.

Many girls call their work clothes factory "hell". "Even if you take a day off, you have to deduct wages," says Mrs ban, a textile worker in Bangalore. Our work is not guaranteed. The supervisor always threatens us to go away without working hard. "

In 2007, textile worker Eminem died in Bangalore's "triangle garment factory". The factory explained to her family that she committed suicide. But the workers later told the media that on the day of the death of EMU, they were abused and insulted by the overseers in the factory. They even pushed her down and threw something at her. The triangle garment factory has 1500 workers, which belong to Gokuldas group, which has more than 40 thousand employees. The group produces garments for famous brands in Europe and America, such as Puma.

This is not an accident. The employee was slightly abused and overlooked by the supervisor, or even beaten in India. Garment factory There are always things in China, even women workers. Garment factory Reports of being beaten to death. But such reports often appear only in the corner of local newspapers, or even arouse a bit of anger.

Chinese workers demand higher remuneration. In India, although the government issued the minimum wage act in 1994, it has not been implemented in small and medium-sized enterprises until now. Most textile factories in India belong to small and medium-sized enterprises. Because in many Indian eyes, only the government and IT companies are regular jobs and apply the minimum wage standard.

According to the report of the International Labour Commission, India textile workers do not have any social insurance. In some factories, toilets and even drinking water are luxuries. Workers have to work 10-12 hours a day, and if they want to rest on weekends, they have to extend their work hours by two hours a day. There are no chairs beside all the production lines of the India textile mill. Everyone has to stand and work. On these lines, the most skilled sewing workers can earn up to 140 rupees a day (about 20 yuan). The machines used in India textile mill are 15 years behind China, and many people have lost their fingers due to operational errors.

Nevertheless, low cost did win orders for China from India. According to the India business standard February 22nd, India textile and garment industry found that orders from the US and Europe have increased by about 10-15% in the new year. The head of the India Textile Industry Association said, "because of the rising labor costs in China, some of the orders originally planned for Chinese companies have now shifted to India, even though India exports account for only 4% of the global garment export market, while China still occupies nearly 30%."

What are the deficiencies?

These orders may not indicate anything.

Although the India government boasts of its popular investment location at the Davos world economic forum, statistics have poured cold water on Indians. In the past year, foreign investment in India has decreased by nearly 1/3.

According to a report issued by the Central Bank of India, in India, obtaining environmental permits and land ownership is extremely time-consuming, government red tape and backward public construction, all of which lead to foreign investment not to invest and build factories in India. {page_break}

The level of backward manufacturing may also be a deterrent to multinationals, and even let India lose its wishful thinking from its low price.

Last Christmas, the "GSLV" thrust rocket, carrying the dream of India's space power, went wrong again. After its launch, it exploded with the India communications satellite, which was carrying it, into fragments. India public opinion analysis that manufacturing technology, however, is the main reason for the rocket explosion.

In the history of civilization development in India for thousands of years, it showed more spiritual creativity. India is the birthplace of ancient religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikh religion. At the same time, it has a profound impact on the world in philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. However, such an ancient civilization, in its long history, has not yet handed down exquisite ancient handicrafts or breathtaking artifact. This may be seen as an example of India's manufacturing industry's "congenital deficiency".

Even today, many tourists who come to India will be disappointed to find that buying souvenirs is a worry. The most popular souvenir on the streets of India is a small wood carving with walnut size. There are various animal designs such as elephants, but the carver is rough and lacks the simple aesthetic feeling of African culture. Compared with all kinds of exquisite souvenirs in Chinese tourist attractions, the difference between Indian hands-on ability is obvious.

Indians have the language advantages that are in line with international standards. They are similar to the United States and Britain in terms of logical thinking and accounting system. Therefore, the service industry and software industry have developed rapidly in the past ten years. But as history repeats itself, manufacturing industry has not developed much.

At present, the contribution of India's manufacturing industry to GDP is only 17%, and most of its domestic products are relatively low-end. It is said that most of the mobile phones produced and sold in India are imported from China, whether they are international brands or domestic brands. So some India economists exclaimed in the media that the gap between India and China in manufacturing is getting bigger and bigger.

To truly replace China as the world's factory, India now has many problems to solve, both to improve education and vocational skills, and to establish a social security system. Because so many people enter the factory work, we must consider how they should do when they lose their jobs.

In addition, India still faces many problems, one of which is surprising: India democracy. For example, India stipulates that the transfer of a piece of land requires 75% of the land owners' consent, which makes India still unable to build a large-scale logistics network, and the construction of large factories has also become a difficult task.