Overview and Trends

Textile industry in India is considered as a pioneer industry, as India's industrializations in other fields have succeeded through the resources generated by textile industry. Though, from the early 1970s to the beginning of liberalization in 1992, the industry tended to be isolated as measures taken by the Government (with the apparent objective of protecting the cotton growers, the large labor force and the consumers) have constantly eroded its prosperity.

World over, the Indian textile industry is considered as the second largest industry. It has the biggest cotton acreage of 9 million hectares and is considered as the third largest producer of this fiber. In terms of staple fiber production it comes fourth and sixth for filament yarn production. The country reports about one fourth of global trade in cotton yarn.

With over 15 million people employment, the textile industry accounted for 20 percent of its industrial production. Covering textiles and garments, thirty percent of India's export comes from this sector, in terms of exports it is the largest contributors for the growth of Indian economy. In spite of high capital and power cost, the Indian textile and garment sector's strength comes from the availability of cotton, lower labor costs, well skilled supervisory staff and plentiful technical and managerial skills.

Although very few countries are endowed with such resources, today's globalization has brought new opportunities for the India textile industry. Concurrently, it is exposed to threats, particularly from cheap imported fabrics. Thus, India has to fight for her share in the international textile trade. Even if it is assumed that WTO will mean better distribution of the world trade, the benefits for India will not be any different than for the other developing countries. The Indian textile industry would, therefore, have to not only rely on its strengths but should also endeavor to remove its weakness.

India's apparel exporters, though, have been employing various strategies to make sure that they remain competitive in the liberalized trading environment of 2005 and beyond. Many manufacturers are taking action for improving production efficiency through advanced automation system, re-engineering of production systems, merging separate production units and backward and forward integration of operations and are keen to expand their production capacity in anticipation of enhanced demand in 2005 and beyond Among other manufacture are seeking changes through diversifying their product ranges, exporting high value apparel and improving their design capabilities and some of are planning to raise added value by setting up joint ventures with foreign firms, to take benefit of their technical, design and marketing proficiency. Others are making relationships with foreign buyers to increase their marketing capability.

Support has also arrived from the Indian government in the removal of restrictions on investment by large companies and foreign investors. The Government has also provided assistance to expand the infrastructure for exporters and has given incentives for techno-logical up-gradation. Though, most important restriction is the inflexibility in labor laws, which cause it hard for large firms to cut their workforces when require.

Textile industry in tenth plan

The Tenth Five Year Plan of India (2002-2007) forecasted a GDP growth rate of 8 percent for which an industrial growth of 10 percent is predicted.

The aim of the Tenth Plan is to facilitate the textile and apparel industry to:

. Develop world class state-of the-art production facility to accomplish and maintain a leading global position in production and export of textiles and clothing.

. Withstand demands of import penetration and uphold a dominant existence in the domestic market.

. To accomplish these aims heavy funds are needed in technology and modernization in critical areas particularly in spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing and apparel sectors.

. The technology up-gradation scheme (TUFS) introduced in 1999 intended to make investments component attractive. This scheme has been established to promote modernization and technology up-gradation in the specified sectors of textile and jute industries.

. The Government of India has also declared the National Textile Policy-2000 to expand a sound and vibrant textile industry. The objectives and plunged areas of the national textile policy cover technology up-gradation, enhancement of productivity, quality consciousness, product diversification and so on.

Schemes to strengthen investment in textiles during the Tenth Plan cover:

Rearranging spinning capacity

At present nearly 38 million spindles are already existed. About 10 million old spindles required to be scrapped, and another 15 million spindles to be modernized. Adding on, about 3 million new spindles have to be set up during the Tenth Plan period.

Loomage

The decentralized power loom sector, which reported 68 percent share of the cloth in the country, is in very strong and immediate need of renovation. The textile package declared in the Central Government included renovation of the weaving sector with 2.50 lakhs semi-automatic/automatic shuttle looms and 50,000 shuttleless looms.

Finishing

There are nearly 2324 precessing establishments in the country of which 83 belong to composite units, 165 to semi composite and others 2076 are self-governing processing houses. Among of 227 establishments are modern, 1775 are of medium technology and 322 are obsolete establishments. Reconstruction of finishing units will need a huge financial expenditure.

Schemes for expansion and development of the knitting sector, technical textiles, and woolen and jute industries are to be considered. The textile Engineering Industry is to be encouraged to modernize and offer state-of-the-art technology to the textile industry and through focused textile machinery R&D efforts, domestic reaches and development are to be initiated.