Profile of CONTIGO´s partner Vinayak

Supply chain

Trading Partner: Vinayak, medium enterprise
Function: Producer
Structure: Own production plant
Tradeway: Direct import CONTIGO

Products

Printed scarves made from certified organic cotton

Location

Jodhpur, in the state of Rajasthan, India

Founded in 2010

History

• 2010: Foundation of Vinayak Exports by Mahendra Prajat. Specialisation in the production of high-quality scarves, clothes and bags in cooperation with the father’s screen printing workshop
• 2015: The company gets GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and ISO certified

Cooperation with CONTIGO since 2016

Structure of the business

Number of employees:

33 employees (4 women and 29 men) in the tailor´s shop, administration and shipment

Organisation of workforce:

Production is split in three locations:

• Two screen print workshops in Jodhpur:
  • Production step: textile printing with screen print technique in 3 print units
  • 50 permanent employees, in case of bigger orders commissioned work to other textile print workshops
  • Payment:
    • Piece wage per running metre (higher piece rate for complex work)
    • Fixed salary for qualified tasks (colour-master: blending of colours)
  • Facilities and equipment:
    • Washing, bleaching and dyeing facilities
    • Manual screen print at 40 metre long tables, (frameworks and scraper) for small volumes, sun drying on frames on the rooftop
    • Automatic screen print devices for textile quantities of more than 2,000m per design, hot air tunnel (for drying)
    • Wastewater treatment, sewer system is available
  • Origin of the materials:
    • Organic cotton from cooperatives in South India via a certified supplier
    • GOTS authorized colours and fixatives, natural thickener guar flour

• One sewing workshop in Jodhpur: Production steps: product design, sewing, digital print, quality control, packaging, shipment and marketing
  • Owner: Mahendra Prajapat
  • Employees: 20 men, 6 women work in production and quality control, 6 employees for design and administration
  • Payment: fixed salary, sewers receive piece rate wages
  • Facilities: one-storey factory and office building, digital print, cutting, sewing

• 3. location in Noida (ca. 600km northeast from Jodhpur)
  • Rented facility
  • Production steps: sewing, quality control, packaging
  • Ca. 10 employees
  • Payment: piece rate wages

Sales

• 95% Export (France, Italy, Germany, USA)
• 5% Home market

Goals

• To preserve the future sustainability and competitiveness, therefor
  • Centralisation of all production steps
  • Purchase of a bigger property for the new building 

Special features

• Environment: Vinayak is member of the „Jodhpur Pollution Niwaran Trusts“, the wastewater flows into the „Common Effluent Treatment Plant“, the sewer system leads to a processing plant

Why does CONTIGO work with Vinayak: The consequent focus on quality and design is impressive.

 

Fairtrade classification

FTP = Fairtrade in Progress, young business relationship

 

Fairtrade aspects

Vinayak complies with the following Fairtrade Principles:

No child labour

No discrimination

No discrimination due to gender, disability, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political orientation, or infection with HIV

Fair wages

• Minimum wages in the state of Rajasthan: (INR = Indian Rupee)
  • Un-skilled worker: INR 5,382/month
  • Semi-skilled worker: INR 5,642/month
  • Skilled worker: INR 5902/month
• Average wages at Vinayak:
  • Un-skilled worker: INR 8,000/month
  • Semi-skilled worker: INR 8,000 – 10,000/month
  • Skilled worker: 10,000 – 20,000/month
• Depending on job and responsibility, the employees receive a fixed salary (supervision, quality control) or a performance related salary (piece rate)

• Salary increment every year based on performance

• Monthly transfer to bank accounts of the employees, cash payment or cheque
• In case of overtime salary is doubled
• Bonus payment for the Diwali-Festival

 

Humane working conditions

Working hours:

• 8 hours /day (9:00am-6:00pm)
• Breaks: 30 minutes for lunch, two tea breaks à 15 minutes
• 6 days / week

 

Social benefits:

• Paid holidays (10-14 days for the traditional Holi and Diwali-Festivals)
• Continued payment of wages in case of illness or accidents
• Payment of contributions to pension scheme PF (= Employees’ Provident Fund): employer and employee each pay  12% of the monthly gross wage
• Payment of contributions to health insurance “Mediclaim”

Work safety:

• All safety standards are met

Transparency

• Work contracts are available
• Payroll is available
• SAR (Self Assessment Report) was duly submitted to CONTIGO

 

Monitoring

• Personal visits in Jodhpur (2017)
• Certified by
  • GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) since autumn 2015
  • ISO 9001:2008 since autumn 2015

 

Country information

Information about India

 

Pictures