Textile: A Strong Fabric For Small Business

BANGALORE, INDIA:

Ailing and unorganised until a few years back, the Indian textile industry today is one of the largest in the world.Textile contributes about 14 per cent to industrial production, 4 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 17 per cent to the country’s export earnings.

With the increase in demand for Indian textiles from within and outside the country, the industry is witnessing a steady expansion. The current domestic textile market is expected to increase up to US$ 60 billion by 2012 from the current US$ 34.6 billion, while the overall market is expected to grow from the present US$ 70 billion to US$ 220 billion by 2020.

The growing international market demand promises a substantial increase in the exports. As per the Ministry of Textiles, there’s  going to be a likely increase of 3 percent from the current share of 4 per cent within 2012.

Textile Industry Strengths & Weaknesses

+ Huge Domestic Market consumption

+ Tremendous Export Potential

+ The new age creative and risk taking entrepreneurs

+ Use of latest technology which produces high quality multi-fiber raw material

+ Supportive government policies

— The increased global competition due to WTO policies

— Use of outdated manufacturing technology from the low end suppliers

— Inefficient supply chain management

— The sector is still unorganized at many levels

— Lack of appropriate government reforms for further improvisation

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Looking at the potential, the government has taken two key steps to direct more foreign funds toward the sector:

- It has allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in textiles under the automatic route.

- It  has  sanctioned 40 textile parks with world class infrastructure facilities in nine states with a Government contribution of US$ 320 million under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP).

Fine Figures

- The total cloth production increased by 2.9 per cent during December 2010 as compared to last year

- The total textile exports during April-September 2010 increased by 11.47 per cent

- The industry attracted FDI worth US$ 934.04 million between April 2000 and January 2011

Looking Ahead

With most European companies wanting to set up facilities close to emerging markets, India now has substantial opportunity to export both technical textiles and hometextiles.

Source : www.dare.co.in