T&C industry on the rise

The Indian textiles and clothing (T&C) industry plays a crucial role in the Indian economy and contributes about 10 per cent of industrial production and 2 per cent of GDP of the country. The industry also creates an employment opportunities for about 45 million people and accounts 13.61 per cent of the export of the country with a share of 5.34 per cent in textiles (HS Chapter 50 to 60) and 8.27 per cent in clothing (HS Chapter 61 to 63) in the global market during 2016.

The domestic demand of textiles, which is characterised by demand from household and non-household sector, plays a significant role in the overall growth and performance of the textiles industry. The household sector is the major growth driver and contributes about 53.39 per cent to the overall demand of T&C products.

In order to estimate the domestic demand for T&C in the household sector, the Textiles Committee has been publishing an annual report titled “Market for Textiles and Clothing (MTC)” since 1969.

The report estimates the per capita and aggregate demand of T&C by region, gender, area, income group, etc. besides estimating the preference pattern by fibre, product groups viz. woven apparels, knitted apparels, home textiles, etc. in the household sector of the country. This is the only authenticated report available in the country, which provides domestic market size of textiles at dis-aggregated level.

The report is published on the basis of the textile purchase data collected bi-monthly from selected panel household across the country. The data base generated from the collected data is analysed and findings of the report are published in the form of an annual report.

The latest annual report “Market for Textiles and Clothing (MTC): National Household Survey 2017” has been prepared by the Textiles Committee. Besides, estimating the domestic demand for 2015 and 2016, the report has also forecasted the market size for 2018.

The key findings of the “Market for Textiles and Clothing (MTC)” are as follows:
Domestic demand of textiles in the household sector:
The overall market size of T&C including exports has increased from $145.71 billion in 2015 to $146.63 billion in 2016, which is expected to touch $164 billion by 2018. Out of $146.63 billion, exports account for $35.43 billion whereas Household sector account for $78.28 billion followed by $32.91 billion of non-household sector in 2016. Thus the household sector contributes 53.39 per cent to the overall market size of the T&C and the same has been analysed in detail in the MTC, 2017.

Aggregate demand of textiles and clothing in the household sector in terms of quantity and value: The aggregate demand of T&C is 41.06 billion metres in 2016 as compared to 38.54 billion metres in 2015 and have experienced an annual growth rate of 6.55 per cent of expected to touch 45.32 billion metres by 2018, growing at a CAGR of 5.34 per cent between 2011-2018.

In terms of value, the demand has increased to Rs 5,261.53 billion in 2016 as compared to Rs 4,883.57 billion in 2015 and have experienced an annual growth rate of 7.74 per cent, which is expected to touch Rs 6,204.02 billion by 2018, with CAGR of 9.54 per cent between 2011-2018.

Per capita demand of textiles and clothing in the household sector: The per capita demand of textiles is Rs 4,081.60 in 2016 as compared to Rs. 3,836.13 in 2015 and has experienced a growth of 6.40 percent, which is expected to touch Rs 4,762.90 by 2018, with a CAGR of 8.53 per cent between 2011-2018.

On the other hand, the per capita demand of textile in terms of quantity has increased to 31.85 m (metre) in 2016 as compared to 30.27 m in 2015 with a growth of 5.23 percent during the period, it is expected to touch 34.58 m by 2018, with a CAGR of 4.30 per cent between 2011-2018.

The change in per capita demand indicates that an average person’s consumption of textile has increased by 1.58 m during the period. It is pertinent to mention that while the growth in demand is 6.91percent in the urban area, it is 6.01 percent in the rural area during the same period.

Fibre-wise demand of textiles: The aggregate demand of cotton fibre based product is 17.22 billion metres in 2016 as compared to 16.51 billion metres in 2015 with a growth of 4.28 percentage, which is expected to touch 19.29 billion metres by 2018. The demand for manmade fibre based product is 23.34 billion metres in 2016 as against 21.60 billion metres in 2015 with a growth of 08.04 percentage, which is expected to touch 25.46 billion metres by 2018. Similarly, the aggregate demand for pure silk and woolen fibre based product is 0.34 and 0.16 billion metres respectively in 2016 as against 0.27 and 0.15 billion metres in 2015, showing a positive growth of 25.18 percent and 8 percent respectively, which is expected to touch 0.37 and 0.20 billion metres respectively by 2018. The survey reveals that out of the total aggregate consumption of 41.06 billion metres (per Capita 31.85 m) of textiles in the year 2016, man-made and blended/mixed textiles together have the largest share of 56.83 per cent followed by cotton with 41.94 per cent, pure silk textiles with 0.84 per cent and woolen with 0.39 per cent. Hence, the demand for man-made fibre-based products has been growing and contributing significantly to the overall demand in the household sector.

Demand of textiles as per the sector of manufacturing: The mill/powerloom sector has contributed 33.97 billion metres (82.72 per cent) to the overall demand of textiles in 2016 compared to 31.85 billion metres in 2015 (82.65 per cent). Similarly, the knitted sector has contributed 4.94 billion metres (12.04 per cent) to the total basket in 2016 as against 4.77 billion metres (12.39 per cent) in 2015.

At the same time, the handloom sector contributed 5.24 percentage to the total demand of textiles in the household sector. The aggregate demand for handloom textiles is 2.15 billion metres in 2016 as compared to 1.91 billion metres (4.96 per cent) in 2015. The demand of handloom textiles has increased by 12.66 percentage as compared to the previous year. The projected aggregate demand of textiles by sector of manufacturing estimated for 2018 for mill made/powerloom, knitted/hosiery and handloom sector is 37.24 billion metres, 5.56 billion metres and 2.53 billion metres respectively.

Major varieties demanded by household sector: Some important varieties which are highly demanded in the household sector, belongs to (i) personal clothing and (ii) home textiles. Among the personal clothing, products like shirts, trousers, frocks, skirts, jeans, sweaters, sarees, kurta pyjamas and leggings constitute the major varieties in the reference period. Similarly, innerwears like banian, underwear, briefs, petticoats, panties, brassieres are also contributed a major chunk of demand in the personal clothing categories. The report indicates that the market size of personal clothing items is 37.87 billion metres during 2016 as against 35.52 billion metres in 2015 and has experienced a growth of 6.60 per cent during the reference period.

On the other hand, products like chaddar, bedsheets, towel and terry towels contributed significantly in the home textiles segment. In addition, products like mosquito net, pillow cover or cushion cover, furnishing materials, blankets have also increased their presence in the product basket.

Conclusion
The demand for the household sector is the major contributor to the overall growth of the sector with 53.39 percentage of share in the total market size. While the export of T&C decreased at 4.66 percentage, the demand in household and non-household sector grew by 2.82 and 1.51 percentage respectively during 2016. It is worth mentioning that the growth in household demand of textiles has brought about additional demand for 2,525 million metres of fabrics, which is an indication to the required capacity expansion in the fabrics manufacturing in the country. Similarly, the growing demand for the newly emerged products like legging, etc. provides an indication at the change in preference pattern of the consumers in the country during the period. Hence, the many findings in the report may provide authentic data and insights for informed decision making by the businesses, trade and industry, researchers and policy makers, etc.