Skilling The Workforce Will Define India’s Textile Future
Strengthening collaboration between industry and academic institutions is essential to create structured talent pipelines aligned with real sector requirements, writes Ajay Ajmera
When I arrived in Surat in 1992 as a 19-year-old with no formal education beyond Class 11, my first classroom was the shop floor. I observed master weavers, dyers and tailors at work, and learned that everything in textiles begins with people, not machines. That early exposure shaped a belief that has stayed with me: in textiles, skill is not just an asset—it is the foundation of the industry.
More than three decades later, the question we must ask is whether we are doing enough to pass that foundation on. Progress is visible, but the pace is not sufficient for an industry of our scale.
A Sector Too Large to Ignore Skill Gaps
India’s textile and apparel industry employs over 45 million people, making it the second-largest employer after agriculture. Yet skill gaps persist at every level—from entry-level operators lacking technical training to mid-level professionals with limited exposure to merchandising, quality systems, production planning and supply chain management.
The government has taken important steps. Schemes such as SAMARTH, extended through FY 2025–26, aim to train around three lakh individuals across the value chain, with emphasis on women and placement-linked outcomes. Initiatives like PMKVY and the National Technical Textiles Mission further strengthen foundational and advanced capabilities.
These are meaningful interventions. However, government programmes alone cannot bridge a gap of this magnitude. Industry participation must be deeper, sustained and more structured.
What Skilling Looks Like in Practice
At Ajmera Fashion, skilling is embedded into everyday operations. Every new employee undergoes structured orientation covering processes, product categories and quality standards. Periodic sessions with industry experts focus on communication, sales capability and customer engagement—because technical skill without effective communication limits value creation.
We also place strong emphasis on training franchise partners. New partners under Ajmera Trends or Little Wings undergo three to four days of hands-on training in Surat, covering merchandising, inventory management and customer handling. Many are first-time entrepreneurs, and this foundational training often determines whether a store merely survives or grows sustainably.
The Overlooked Academic Gap
One of the most under-discussed challenges lies in formal education. Despite the size and complexity of India’s textile sector, there are limited dedicated programmes in textile management, apparel merchandising or fashion business strategy within mainstream management education.
Strengthening collaboration between industry and academic institutions is essential to create structured talent pipelines aligned with real sector requirements.
Technology Is Redefining Skill Requirements
The nature of skills required in textiles is also evolving rapidly. Digital printing, AI-driven demand forecasting, sustainable material innovation and e-commerce integration are no longer peripheral, they are central to competitiveness.
At Ajmera Fashion, experiments with bamboo fibre and water-efficient processes have shown that innovation and skilling are inseparable. New materials and technologies require continuous learning, even for experienced teams.
The Way Forward
Closing the skill gap requires coordinated action on three fronts:
First, manufacturers must treat training as a long-term investment rather than a cost.
Second, industry bodies and academic institutions must co-develop curricula that reflect real-world requirements.
Third, government schemes must be complemented by stronger industry participation to ensure outcomes remain demand-driven and measurable.
India has the scale, heritage and ambition to lead global textiles. What will determine its future is not only capacity, but capability. The shop floor taught me that skill is everything. The next generation deserves systems that teach it with intent, structure and continuity.
