The calendar year (CY) 2022 started on a high note for Indian textile industry with a boom in exports and rapid rise in domestic consumption. But Russia-Ukraine war threw a spanner in the works with demand from Europe slowing down and the energy crisis gripping the world hurting both the consumption (i.e. exports) and production in some of the exporting countries (like China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc). India was relatively in a safe zone, with a large domestic market and a stable economy.
However, headwinds of elevated domestic cotton prices and lower exports affected the capacity utilisation of the industry. For example, India’s cotton yarn export volume plunged 58 per cent between April and August 2022, leading to moderation in capacity utilisation of spinners below 75 per cent in the first half from near-full utilisation last fiscal, says Crisil. Nevertheless, over the medium term, Indian cotton yarn will continue to benefit from the US ban on exports from the Xinjiang region in China, and supply-chain de-risking by global customers.
According to a recently released joint knowledge report of FICCI-Wazir Advisors, the Indian textile and apparel (T&A) market – estimated at $ 153 billion in 2021 (with domestic market constituting $ 110 billion and exports contributing $ 43 billion – has the potential to reach $ 250 billion by 2025-26. To achieve the target of $ 250 billion, Indian industry needs to focus on leveraging government support schemes like PLI, PM MITRA Parks, export incentives, etc to invest in new products, build scale of operations, and improve competitiveness.
The Government of India has set a steep target of $ 100 billion for textiles and garment exports over next five years and textile machinery sector has an important part to play in achieving it. A modern and upgraded textile machinery ecosystem can ably support the rising Indian textile industry by moving up the manufacturing excellence and increasing its competitiveness. The urgency and quest to be on the top of the curve was amply visible at India ITME 2022 where Indian textile engineering showcased state-of-the-art technologies and solutions to augment the dynamics along entire textile value chain.
With the changing geopolitical environment, India has emerged as a strong contender to become the second largest textile trader in the world. Given the importance of the country in the global supply chain, major global textile engineering firms from over 68 countries marked their presence at ITME 2022 with their innovative products and solutions for the textile manufacturing sector in India. Leading MNCs, to whom ITJ spoke to during ITME, expressed their confidence in the India’s growth story and were ready to expand their capabilities for serving the industry to give it a competitive edge in the global marketplace.
During one of his recent interactions with the industry, Piyush Goyal, the Union Textiles Minister, expressed the need to create 100 Indian textile machinery champions, who are recognised across the world, by focusing on quality and innovations. Looking at the response at ITME 2022, we are well poised to cross the century milestone.
We would like to wish all our readers a fabulous 2023.