Indian textile and garment industry, a key player in the national economy and the second largest employer of skilled and unskilled workers after agriculture, is on a revival track due to increase in demand of yarns, fabrics and clothing from international and domestic market. Textile industry representatives are anticipating a positive growth of the sector in the next fiscal year.
Mr. DK Nair, secretary general of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), told fibre2fashion, “Production, consumption and profitability in yarns, fabrics and home textiles have been increasing in recent months, compared to the corresponding period of last year.”
“There has been an impressive growth in our exports of non-apparel textiles in this fiscal year and our exports are mostly to major garment exporting countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and China,” he informs.
According to him, Bangladesh and Vietnam have been importing large quantities of non-apparel textiles, whereas “China has now started importing more of yarns, particularly coarse counts of cotton yarn, since they have reduced spinning in this slot,” he adds.
About garment sector, he says, “Though, there has been a negative growth in production of clothing till last year, the apparel sector has started showing a positive growth from December and January.”
“The Indian garment industry has been trying to diversify exports from developed countries to emerging countries such as Latin America, since the countries like the US and the UK are affected by economic slow down,” he continues.
However, he adds, “The revival of the clothing sector will mainly depend on the economic recovery of the US and the EU, which account for nearly 60 percent of Indian clothing exports.”
Echoing him, Mr. K Selvaraju, general secretary of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), says, “There has been a significant improvement in the growth of the country’s textile and garment industry, mainly because of an increase of demand in the international and domestic market.”
“Another reason for the recovery of textile and apparel sector is the price stability of cotton in the domestic market compared to last few years,” he continues.
Talking about Tamil Nadu textile mills, he says, “The textile mills in the state continue to suffer due to acute power shortage and the profitability of mills in Tamil Nadu is much lower compared to other parts of the country.”
During the last quarter ending December 31, 2012, several textile companies in India have witnessed a positive growth. Arvind Limited, one of the largest textile and garment companies in the country, recorded revenue growth of 16 percent to Rs. 14.05 billion as against revenue of Rs. 12.08 billion in the last quarter.
Mr. Jayesh Shah, director and chief financial officer of Arvind Limited, said in a release, “We continue to be moderately bullish as far as the overall business scenario is concerned as the demand from domestic and international market for textile continues to be strong.”
Welspun India Ltd, part of the $ 3.5 billion Welspun group, announced 9 percent sales growth in the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared to same quarter in the previous year.
Mr. Rajesh Mandawewala, managing director of Welspun India Ltd, said in a statement, “Indian textile industry is in a favourable position compared to its major competitors, like China and Pakistan, helped by availability of surplus cheap cotton, comparable/lower labour and power costs, along with favourable government policies.”
