Manmohan Singh: We have the best-in-class water conservation in VSF Industry
Birla Cellulose, a part of the Aditya Birla Group pushes the limits of what is possible in fibre technology, developing new, cutting-edge ways to meet the changing needs of the fashion and textile industries. The sustainable fibres offered by Birla Cellulose’s extensive product line allow the company to serve various markets. Their fibres, like Viscose, Modal, and Lyocell, are known for being soft, comfortable, and easy to work with. It prioritizes environmental protection and strives to leave as little carbon imprint as possible. Birla Cellulose is steadfast in its commitment to environmental governance, which extends from the ethical procurement of raw materials to using environmentally beneficial manufacturing methods. Manmohan Singh, Chief Marketing Officer at Birla Cellulose, in this interview with Divya Shetty, shares how crucial is sustainability in positioning India as a global leader in the textile industry.
What according to you is the present state of the Indian textile industry?
Indian textile sector which servers as largest employment generator after agriculture and contributing significantly to export earning has potential to have an exponential growth from current $200 Billion to projected growth of $350 Billion by 2030. This is very much possible by strong support from several government initiative like PMMITRA, PLI scheme, National Technical textile mission combined with strong private sector investment in capacity expansion, technology enhancement and large amount of spend on training and skillset of workforce.
The Indian textile sector has set an ambitious target of achieving $350 billion in market size by 2030. In your opinion, what are the significant challenges or barriers that could hinder this progress?
Indian textile sector to achieve the ambitious target of $350 billion market size will have several challenges:
- Raw material availability: Availability of key fibre Cotton, man-made fibre ( Polyester, nylon) and man-made natural fibre ( Viscose, lyocell). There will be significant price fluctuation for cotton and capacity constrain of man-made fibre.
- Dependence on imports: There is dependence of imports of specialty fibre which are not made in India to cater to high performance textile and this will reduce competitiveness in global market.
- Consistent quality of raw material like Cotton: As Cotton growth remains stagnant, availability of good quality cotton going forward will remain a challenge.
- Infrastructure deficiencies: Several mills and factories still rely on outdated machinery leading to inefficiencies in production and not providing global quality standards.
- Logistics and energy cost: High logistics and energy costs impacts competitiveness at global level.
What opportunities do you foresee for the Indian textile industry as we move into 2025?
As we step into 2025 Indian textile industry is poised for positive growth driven by favourable domestic policies and evolving consumer preferences. There will be a strong shift to India as part of China+1 strategy, growing global apparel market will help in increase growth in export from India. Expansion in domestic market drive by rising income level, urbanization, e-commerce growth and technical textile will emerge a new sector that will set to grow in India.
How crucial is sustainability in positioning India as a global leader in the textile industry? Additionally, could you share how your company is integrating sustainable practices into its operations and supply chain?
Sustainability is no more a buzz word or trend. It is an initiative to have the right to do business. Therefore every company in textile value chain has to take steps to improve sustainability across processes.
Birla Cellulose keeps sustainability initiatives at the forefront. Our sustainability approach is adaptive and accountable to all our stakeholders. Our pillars of sustainability that drives across our internal and external stakeholders are responsible sourcing of raw material, responsible manufacturing, sustainable products, valuable partnership and social responsibility. We are committed to use 10000 tons of recycled textile waste as circular VSF fibre. We have dedicated resource across R&D, marketing and technology service team to help value chain to adapt to circular fibre under Liva Reviva brand. We are partnering with leading pulp innovators to make sustainable and circular VSF fibre to cater to requirement of brands. We have the best-in-class water conservation in VSF Industry globally for which we have been recognized with various awards in India and globally.
How important is technological modernisation in enhancing our global competitiveness, and what more can be done to accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies in this sector?
Textile Industry has gone through significant change since beginning of Industrial revolution in 18th century. Every phase of the industrial revolution has seen significant technological transition in the textile industry across the value chain. The textile industry is at the cross roads and the transition to Industry 4.0 has been faster than ever, to respond consumer preferences and at the same time needs to be more efficient and sustainable across the ecosystem of the entire textile value chain from Spinning, Weaving, Finishing and Garmenting and this will be key to remain competitiveness.
Change in consumer preference, change in business model (B2B2C/ e-commerce), transparent supply chain, sustainable manufacturing, circular product are the key trends that will accelerate the adoption of cutting edge technologies in this sector and there will be aggressive investment in modern technology, machineries, digitization in manufacturing using machine learning, AI is need of the hour and key to faster growth.
What measures should the government take to further strengthen the Indian textile and apparel (T&A) segment?
Government has been taking several initiatives last several years to strengthen the India textile and apparel segment. One of the biggest factors for growth of Indian textile segment will be availability of raw material at affordable rates. If Government can take initiative to help in accessing affordable raw material to make India self-sufficient in providing key raw material to textile sector.
Which emerging areas within the textile industry hold the most potential for growth?
Technical textile, Circular and sustainable textile are the key emerging areas which will provide additional growth opportunity.
