Let Us Not Miss the Bus

Let Us Not Miss the Bus

Talks of bad times are spreading fast, sometime even on a global scale. No country is spared. But time and again global economy has come out of the blues, and some countries’ fortunes have even brightened up. Why not India’s, this time? One of the opportunities for the textile industry is the technical textiles.

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Talks of bad times are spreading fast, sometime even on a global scale.
No country is spared. But time and again global economy has come out of the blues, and some countries’ fortunes have even brightened up. Why not India’s, this time? One of the opportunities
for the textile industry is the technical textiles. The global latent demand for technical textiles has been projected
to record a CAGR of 2.4 per cent during the period 2018 to 2024, with demand estimated to increase to $267 billion in 2024. It is estimated that Asia would continue to be the leading market for technical textiles in 2019, accounting for approximately 37.8 per cent
of the world demand. Within the Asian region, the Chinese market
is anticipated to account for 46.4 per cent share, followed by India
at 15.5 per cent. The disappointing news is that India has a share of approximately 3 per cent of the global technical textile production,
which is estimated at 90,000 MT. But India has many advantages, the
main factor being a strong raw material (fibre) base – of cotton, manmade fibre, silk, wool and jute. Despite achieving a high growth rate, the per capita consumption of technical textiles in India is 1.7 per kg vis-a-vis 10-12 kg in developed countries. The Indian technical textiles market
has been valued at Rs 1,00,519 crore, recording a CAGR of 15.2 per cent during the period 2013-14 to 2016-17. The market size is expected to
touch Rs 1, 54,909 crore by 2020-21. A bright spot is India’s export of technical textile products, with exports touching $1,849.8 million in 2017-18. After two consecutive years of decline, exports of technical textiles recovered remarkably in 2017-18 to register a significant y-o-y growth of 18.4 per cent, increasing from $1,562.5 million from a year ago to $1,849.8 million in 2017-18. Meanwhile, the imports of technical textiles products increased substantially in 2017-18, recording a growth rate of 21.7 per cent to amount to $1,744.8 million. The imports recorded
a CAGR of 8.1 per cent in the period 2013-14 to 2017-18.


India’s production and export of technical textiles can be increased
if the industry and the Government follow some rules, of which the following points are noteworthy: Increase focus on R&D and technology; raise domestic production of speciality fibres; set up an export promotion council for technical textiles; promote FDI in the technical textiles sector; Increase production of technical textile machinery; extend emphasis on formulation of standards.


First, let the industry visit in large numbers the Techtextil India, happening in Mumbai on the last but one week of this month to feel
the pulse of this potential industry.

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