Indian textiles sector to focus on value addition

Indian textile and clothing exports register positive growth. In 2017, India remained as the world’s leading cotton yarn exporter with a global market share of 25 per cent.

The Coimbatore-based The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) released data for textile and clothing exports from India for 2017, which showed that India’s textiles and clothing exports grew about 5.37 per cent, which was higher than the global growth rate of 3.94 per cent.

Indian textile and clothing exports reached $37.4 billion in 2017 as against $35.5 billion, the previous year. According to Dr K Selvaraju, Secretary General of SIMA told that the future of Indian textiles sector is good amidst challenges.

Tamil Nadu is strong in spinning contributing 47 per cent of total yarn production in India. Selvaraju stated that this is also evident in the strong membership of SIMA with about 700 members representing the entire value chain from ginning to finished goods sector.

Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu has about 7.2 million ring spindles and 100,000 rotors, which are higher than those available in the northern states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The contribution of Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts in Tamil Nadu is about 70 per cent of total cotton knitted goods production in India.

(By: Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA)