இந்திய ஜவுளி தொழில்: பருத்தியிலிருந்து உலக பிராண்டுகள் வரை

Textiles and apparel together make up around 2% of India's GDP and employ over 45 million people directly — second only to agriculture. Tamil Nadu is the largest contributor: Tiruppur is the knitwear capital, Coimbatore the spinning capital, and Karur the home textile hub.

ஜவுளி மற்றும் ஆடை சேர்த்து இந்தியாவின் GDP-யில் சுமார் 2% மற்றும் 4.5 கோடிக்கும் மேற்பட்டோருக்கு நேரடி வேலைவாய்ப்பு — விவசாயத்திற்கு அடுத்தபடியாக. தமிழ்நாடு மிகப்பெரிய பங்களிப்பாளர்: திருப்பூர் (கையால் பின்னல்), கோயம்புத்தூர் (நூற்பு), கரூர் (வீட்டு ஜவுளி).

The value chain

Tiruppur: knitwear capital

Tiruppur exports knitted garments worth around $5 billion annually — over 50% of India's knitwear exports. T-shirts, polos, innerwear, and infant clothes from Tiruppur fill the shelves of Walmart, H&M, Marks & Spencer, and Tommy Hilfiger. The town has more than 6,000 garment units and employs around 600,000 workers, many of them migrants from other states.

Karur: home textiles

Karur in Karur district is the centre for home textiles — bed sheets, curtains, kitchen linen, table covers — exporting to over 60 countries. The Karur cluster developed in the 1960s and 1970s when handloom weavers expanded into power looms. Today exports from Karur exceed ₹6,000 crore annually.

Coimbatore: spinning and machinery

Coimbatore is the largest concentration of spinning mills in India. It also produces textile machinery — Lakshmi Machine Works, founded in Coimbatore in 1962, is one of the world's leading textile machinery manufacturers. The "Manchester of South India" nickname dates from the early 20th century when British and Indian capital built the first cotton mills here.

Challenges and the way forward

India still lags China and Bangladesh in some segments due to lower productivity, smaller average factory size, and weaker man-made fibre infrastructure. Government initiatives — PM MITRA mega textile parks, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibres and technical textiles — aim to close the gap. Sustainability is also rising: Tiruppur factories have been investing in zero-discharge water treatment and renewable energy.

The next time you wear a T-shirt, take a quick look at the label. There's a fair chance — about one in eight, in many global brands — that it was made in Tamil Nadu.