The country’s textile industry, which is currently estimated at 108 billion US dollar, has potential to cross 500 billion US dollar mark by 2025 if the sector gets adequate support from the government, a report said.
“If the Indian textile industry takes the right steps and gets adequate policy support from the government, it could cross 500 billion US dollar by 2025 from its present size of 108 billion US dollar. This will also catalyse another 35 million jobs and 200 billion US dollar of investments,” according to a study report by leading textile and polyester consulting firms Wazir Advisors and PCI Xylenes and Polyesters.
The 500 billion US dollar market figure consists of domestic sales of 315 billion US dollar and exports of 185 billion US dollar. The current industry size comprises domestic market of 68 billion US dollar and exports of 40 billion US dollar, Wazir Advisors joint managing director, Mr. Prashant Agarwal said.
“We have belief that India is a goldmine for growth of textiles and apparel value chain, whose potential is yet to be fully tapped,” he said.
Mr. Agarwal said the government needs to give more support to the industry with specific focus on manmade fibre based textile value chain.
Immediate GST implementation to remove differential tax treatment to manmade fibres, creation of mega textile parks, single window system for FDIs, labour law reforms, extension of loan period in case of Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) and R&D promotion are some of the policy measures needed to boost the industry, he said.
With 5.2 per cent share of global trade, the Indian textile industry ranks second in the world, but far behind China. This is likely to change, with China’s share in global textile trade expected to go down by 5 per cent which will help India to push up its exports to 185 billion US dollar.
Indian textile industry needs to effect a major shift in its fibre mix, which is presently tilted towards cotton (55 per cent), while the fibre consumption of the world is tilted towards polyester fibre (50 per cent), the report said.
Also global brands are setting up more shops here and market share of women’s wear is increasing and private labels are gaining prominence in organised retail. India may start consuming more polyester than cotton in the next five years, which will increase the market size of polyester fibre by 1,500 thousand tonnes, the report added.
