Textile industry in Tamil Nadu looks up to the Centre for assistance as it tries to move up in the value chain, according to D Prabhu, Secretary, Texpreneurs Forum, Coimbatore.

He felt that despite its current troubles, Russia is an attractive market for Indian textile exporters because of its huge potential.

Speaking to newsmen recently ahead of the seminar on `Make in India-textile industry-opportunities & challenges’ being organised by a group of textile associations in Western Tamil Nadu here on Saturday, he said the textile industry has been facing several headwinds like the unprecedented fluctuation in cotton prices and competition from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam in garment export.

There were also opportunities galore with economic boom leading to market expansion in India. It was at that time the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his `Make in India’ programme to make the country a global manufacturing destination and take the contribution of manufacturing sector to the country’s GDP from ~15 per cent to 25 per cent.

A presentation of the study will be made at the seminar which would be attended by Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Commerce & Industry and Pon. Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, he said.

Prabhu said bilateral trade agreements between countries had an impact on the industry.

For instance, Pakistan enjoyed a duty-free status for its textile exports to the European Union, a luxury that was not available to India. The four agreements that required government attention were India-Bangla agreement (South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), India-Latin America, India-EU and India-Russia agreements. On reaching out to Russia, he said it was time for the industry to find newer markets for its goods rather than depend only on the US and EU.

He said Russia was importing annually ₹80,000 crore worth of textiles of which India’s share was ‘very negligible’. He said barring clusters like Karur and Tirupur, others in Tamil Nadu in the textile sector were lower on the value chain because of which their margins were very thin.

Unless the manufacturers moved closer to the customers by adding value to their products, they would not be able to bear the relentless cost increase.

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