New investments towards value addition

Potential for shuttleless weaving machines is still enormous to reach an equilibrium with the excess spinning capacity, feels Navdeep Singh Sodhi.
 
Global textile industry is once again at a turning point resulting in the creation of a new textile world order. Although China?s dominance is likely to continue, next decade should witness the emergence of new players and bridge the gaps between textile ?haves? and ?have-nots?. Indian textile industry has further potentials to upgrade its manufacturing capability. The envisaged upgradation will encompass the entire textile value chain comprising the primary textile manufacturing and confection into ready-made articles. There will clearly be a shift towards production of value-added finished articles. 

Potential for shuttleless weaving machines is still enormous to reach an equilibrium with the excess spinning capacity as well as overcome technological obsolescence. Concomitantly, the processing capacity will be required to supply finished piece goods.

India?s man-made fibre textile industry has tremendous scope to emulate the global scale attained by India in cotton textile processing. This will lead to creation of large scale capacity in producing MMF fabrics. Augmentation of technical know-how in processing of MMF textiles?both cellulosic and polyester based?will be a pre-requisite to achieve competitiveness in this high growth segment.

Global trade is predicted to retard and therefore, bulk of future growth will have to come from the domestic market. This will require expansion of India?s garment manufacturing capacity to cloth rising urban population and furnish new homes.

Technical textile industry comprising nonwovens and composites is still in its infancy and its future expansion will be a function of GDP growth and increase in share of manufacturing from prevailing 17 per cent to 25 per cent. Gherzi foresees opportunities for investment in equipment for manufacture of fiber reinforced plastics and nonwovens.
Investments in new technologies and processes will lead to greater demand for equipment with sustainable resource consumption-water, power, and energy. The industry should also witness investment in ancillary equipment in automation of internal logistics, particularly material handling and warehousing.

In short, Gherzi foresees potential for new investment in India across the entire textile value chain. Clearly, there will be an acceleration in trend to add value to primary materials and move up the value chain.

 
The article is authored by Navdeep Singh Sodhi, a Partner at Gherzi Textil Organisation AG, Switzerland.