Entrepreneurship, Costing and Environmental Aspects of Textiles
What the exam tests
The final domain links the mill to money and to the environment: how a textile enterprise is planned, how a cost sheet is built, and how effluent and waste are regulated.
Entrepreneurship
The route is idea, market survey, project report (DPR) with cost of project and means of finance, then registration - Udyam/MSME, GST, factory licence, pollution consent - and finally plant, manpower and working capital. Textile-specific support includes the Technology Upgradation Fund and PMEGP for small units. Break-even quantity = fixed cost ÷ (selling price − variable cost per unit).
Costing
Prime cost = direct material + direct labour + direct expenses; adding works overhead, administration and selling costs gives total cost. In yarn costing the fibre cost is divided by the process yield, because waste and noil reduce output. Fabric cost per metre = (fabric weight × yarn rate ÷ efficiency) + weaving and processing charges. Export pricing must account for duty drawback and packing credit.
Environment
Dyeing and bleaching effluent carries high BOD, COD, colour and dissolved solids. Treatment is primary (screening, equalisation, coagulation), secondary (activated sludge) and tertiary (reverse osmosis, ozonation). Tamil Nadu dyeing units operate under zero liquid discharge with multiple-effect evaporators. Banned azo dyes, formaldehyde limits and heavy metals are restricted, and mercerising caustic is recovered in a caustic recovery plant.
Worked example
A unit has a fixed cost of Rs 12,00,000 a year, variable cost Rs 60 per kg and a selling price of Rs 100 per kg. Contribution = 100 − 60 = Rs 40. Break-even = 12,00,000 ÷ 40 = 30,000 kg per year. Selling below Rs 60 per kg would never recover even variable cost.
Traps
Mixing fixed and variable costs; pricing from material cost alone; confusing BOD (organic load) with COD; assuming dilution is an acceptable effluent strategy.