Now is the best second chance to gain what we lost

– Prem Malik, Chairman, CITI

Indian textile industry is the second largest in the world, next to China. But the gap between the No 1 and No 2 is huge. If we go back to the 50s, India used to have a larger market share in the textile & clothing – say about 13 per cent. In the course of time whatever the policies, we lost the ground to various nations and subsequently to China, which now holds a share of 35 percent of the world market share. Today the total global textile market is about $700-750 billion. Our share in this is 4.5 per cent. This now gives the one-time opportunity to bridge the gap. We had this advantage in the 90s. Now when the quota regime ended, China even 10 years before grasped the opportunity.

This is when India lost the first opportunity. Now is the best second opportunity for the textile industry to gain what India lost, to take a leap forward. What I am talking about here is not emotional, but rational.

China has now become a developed economy. No longer a developing economy. So, for the developed economy, the cost is rising rapidly in China, especially labour. What today they are paying for a labour is $450 to 500, and we all know what we pay here in India.

They have no advantage in power and also water because they are the same. But the third most important factor is the gap in fibre prices. The difference in cotton price is about 25 cents to a pound. This has made the Chinese to start importing textile products. They have already started importing yarn. Home textiles, fabrics are the other products to follow.

I was recently talking to the Chairman of China´s CTMTC in Mumbai, who said that China has a domestic market of $300 billion for home textiles. They are looking for suppliers and this is a great opportunity.

What are we doing? We have about $3.5 billion worth of home textile here. The next is Bangladesh, which is a huge supplier of apparels, both knitted & woven in the global market, which has already surpassed India in apparels, that does not have given us much of a good feeling. But with rupee depreciation taking place, Indian apparel industry will soon be overtaking them.

It has already started showing results. Bangladesh has no raw material, has statutory problem, wage issues we have all the advantages in terms of labour, infra- while structure, research efforts…… everything to boost textile business. The third factor is US is bouncing back and Europe has already shown signs of normalising. And the biggest factor in favour of us is the huge domestic market – 120 billion people. Our current per capita consumption of textiles is 4 to 4.5 kg, while China has 18 kg per capita consumption.

The figure for the US is 38 kg. It will not be difficult for us to raise this to 8 to 9 kg at least in the next 5 to 10 years. Our population is growing, prosperity is growing and the youthful side is large. All these youth have aspirational value……looking for more & more clothing. They start in the morning with an attire and change dresses a few times before wearing the night suit.

The consumption of textile will only go up many-fold. Another factor is the change from joint family to nuclear structure. This has boosted housing, which in turn requires tapestry, furnishing, bedsheets and so on. Home textiles have a tremendous scope.

Technical textiles with sectors automotive industry growth are bound to growth. So, I see optimism based on rationalism, which says that India has a big opportunity for tremendous growth. Entrepreneurs must be now positive in investment because the demand is bound to increase and there is a wide scope. The Government, I feel, is coming out with new initiatives including labour laws and with TUFS and other measures launched by States like Gujarat, the textile industry´s fortunes will only go up.