Nov 01, 2007 05:43
Indian Textile Industry
The Indian textile industry is one of the largest and most important sectors in the economy in terms of output, foreign exchange earnings and employment in India.
The industry has several vast sectors within it, that is, the mill sector, the clothing or garment sector, the handloom sector and the powerloom sector. Each of these sectors employs lakhs of workers and also contributes significantly to the national economy.
India has a natural competitive advantage in terms of a strong and large multi-fibre base, abundant cheap skilled labour and presence across the entire value chain of the industry ranging from spinning, weaving, and made-ups to manufacturers of garments. India’s textile industry comprises mostly small-scale, non-integrated spinning, weaving, finishing and apparel-making enterprises.
We are equipped with latest world-class machineries. Keeping pace with latest technology, we have continually upgraded the machines to meet stringent quality parameters of spun yarn. With extensive automation, we have minimized manual handling of the product. India has a large pool of skilled low-cost textile workers, experienced in technology skills. India’s cotton textile industry has a high export potential. Cost competitiveness is driving the penetration of Indian basic yarns and grey fabrics in international commodity markets. Small and flexible batches of apparels can be manufactured in India and can provide a larger variety of casual wear and leisure garments at significantly lower costs. Besides natural fibres such as cotton, jute and silk, synthetic raw material products such as polyester staple fibre, polyester filament yarn, acrylic fibre and viscose fibre are produced in India.
Where heavy duties are imposed in the overseas countries for importing textiles on account of anti-dumping, Imports from India s not at all included for levying such duties.
At present, the textile industry is undergoing a substantial re-orientation towards other then clothing segments of textile sector, which is commonly called as technical textiles. It is moving vertically with an average growing rate of nearly two times of textiles for clothing applications and now account for more than half of the total textile output. The processes in making technical textiles require costly machinery and skilled workers.
The application that comes under technical textiles is filtration, bed sheets and abrasive materials, healthcare upholstery and furniture, blood-absorbing materials and thermal protection, adhesive tape, seatbelts, and other specialized application and products
In brief, the textiles sector has its own strengths & a great potential to attain growth if it uses the opportunities in a right direction.
Strengths:
1) India enjoys benefit of having plentiful resources of raw materials. It is one of the largest producers of cotton yarn around the globe, and also there are good resources of fibres like polyester, silk, viscose etc.
2) There is wide range of cotton fibre available, and has a rapidly developing synthetic fibre industry.
3) India has great competitiveness in spinning sector and has presence in almost all processes of the value chain.
4) Availability of highly trained manpower in both, management and technical. The country has a huge advantage due to lower wage rates. Because of low labor rates the manufacturing cost in textile automatically comes down to very reasonable rates. There is an immense scope for textiles industry in India as it is the second largest employment generator after agriculture.
5) The installed capacity of spindles in India contributes for 24% share of the world, and it is one of the biggest exporters of yarns in the global market. Having modern functions and favorable fiscal policies, it accounts about 25% of the world trade in cotton yarn.
6) The apparel industry is largest foreign exchange earning sector, contributing 12% of the country's total exports.
7) The garment industry is very diverse in size, manufacturing facility, type of apparel produced, quantity and quality of output, cost, requirement for fabric etc. It comprises suppliers of ready-made garments for both, domestic or exports markets.
Opportunities
1) The industry has the potential of doubling the export earnings by the year 2010. The regulatory polices is helping out to enhance infrastructures of apparel parks, Specialized textile parks, EPZs and EOUs.
2) The Indian manufacturers and suppliers are improving design skills, which include different fabrics according to different markets. Indian fashion industry and fashion designers are marking their name at international platform.
3) The industry is anticipated to generate new jobs in various sectors until 2010, with the doubling of GDP & increase in exports.