All About Zari Industry And Its History
Surat zari industry is one of the oldest industries in Surat (Gujarat state in the western part of India) dating back to the sixteenth century. It enjoys the status of cottage industry since 1955. Zari is an intermediate product broadly catering to two end-user industries—textiles industry including handicrafts and the fashion industry. It is largely a family-owned, community-based, skilled-oriented, fragmented industry, with a very low level of automation, experiencing intensive rivalry. Zari making involves a series of inter-related closely guarded processes, which are passed on from generation to generation. Some of the issues and challenges that the industry is facing today are related to the traditional mindset of the entrepreneurs, quality, lack of standardization of processes and marketing. The paper discusses the possible strategic interventions as also the cluster approach to enhance competitiveness of the industry. History Of Jari Industry The jari is ancestral In...