Digitalization and the Indian Textiles Sector: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

This article discusses and analyses the complex relationship between digitalization and the Indian textile industry. It is found that the process of digitalization has both positive and negative impacts on the sector, in terms of its opportunities and supposed challenges. To effectively meet the challenges and convert these into opportunities, it is proposed that certain measures be taken of the likes of protecting the jobs of the poor and imparting adequate digital skills to the textiles workforce. To make the digital economy a success and not a disaster, it is imperative that digitalization be supported by an effective information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, involving both the state efforts and individual initiative. A visionary and practical approach to the issue of digitalization shall render not only the industry but also the economy in an advantageous position, given the pre-eminence of the digital technologies in the world today. In sum, running away from the process of digitalization may be the last thing any industry could manage to do; only embracing it intelligently would be useful for the sector as well as for its stakeholders—managers, employees and the entire Indian economy.