The Coimbatore-based Indian Texpreneurs’ Federation (ITF), which represents the entire value chain of the textile sector, has suggested a six-pronged strategy to achieve double digit growth in the textile and apparel sector, with the theme ‘2021-A year of progress for Indian Textile & Apparel Sector’.
As the Indian textile and apparel sector bounced back strongly after the turbulence caused by Covid-19, it hopes to achieve stronger growth in 2021.
“As a sector, we are doing $35-37 billion exports (average of last few years) of all products put together. If all goes right, we can reach double-digit growth. We can make 2021 a year of progress for the Indian textiles and apparels sector,” Prabbhu Dhamodharan, Convenor, ITF told
As the Indian textile sector has staged a strong recovery and is gunning for big growth in the post-Covid era, ITF has outlined six key areas that need stronger focus to achieve their growth objectives.
Firstly, there should be a stronger focus on the US market for apparels. The Indian home textile sector was the biggest gainer in volume terms in the US market in the first 10 months of this year. Efforts should be made to repeat the success for Indian apparel.
Vietnam’s FTA with the EU will intensify the competition for India in that region. At the same time, a level playing field with our top three competitors in the US market in terms of duty, combined with a quick economic recovery and consumption in the US, makes a compelling case for the Indian apparel sector to focus on the US market for immediate growth.
“We need to intensify efforts and focus at all levels, including the government, cluster and firm level, to grab our share in the US market in apparels,” he said.
Secondly, it is time to focus on value addition with new capex. Using the low interest regime and easy liquidity, combined with robust demand visibilities due to post-Covid opportunities, it is time for the Indian textile & apparel sector to step up efforts in terms of new capex investment at various stages of the value chain, with a single focus on value addition with the goal of a 20 per cent increase in per product revenue.
Thirdly, the Indian apparel sector should use the forthcoming PLI scheme as the stepping stone for much-needed product diversification and innovation in the MMF (man-made fibre) space, and build scale to attract global buyers.
Other key areas include focus on technology adoption and digitalisation with Industry 4.0 strategies, development of an agile mindset and focus on discipline in credit cycles.
The industry is currently managing the trade well, with sufficient liquidity due to infusion of funds in the system with the Central Government’s ECLGS scheme.
The sector needs to utilise the opportunity to maintain financial discipline, to work on shorter credit terms across the value chain to improve business performance and sustain the recovery momentum, he said.
The Indian textile sector is the sixth largest exporter of textiles and apparels in the world. Its has a 12 per cent share in mercantile exports and is the second largest employment generator after agriculture.