India's texitle sector : policy analysis

The textile industry is an extremely impor tant sector of the Indian economy. However, although it was the first major industry to be established in the country, it has not only been among the slowest growing but is also plagued by a host of problems such as a high incidence of sickness, increasing obsoles cence and low levels of modernisation. This is in contrast to many other Asian countries where the textile industry has been, and often still is, amongst the most dynamic.

This major study provides an understand ing of why India's textile experience has been so different from that of other develop ing countries which produce textiles. Ac cording to the author, the most crucial reason lies in the fact that the textile sector in India has been subjected to a degree of state control and regulation which has few paral lels. Since government intervention has played a fundamental role in shaping the de velopment of the textile sector, the main thrust of this study is on an analysis of the evolution and impact of India's textile pol icy.