India’s textile industry – what has changed over the years

The diversity offered by India’s textile potential has crossed borders throughout time. India has a rich textile legacy, which ranges from fine, classic khadi and handicrafts to fabrics made in capital-intensive factories.
Today, India’s textile and clothing sector is characterised by transformational, changing markets, developing supply chains and distribution methods, and a push toward sustainable manufacturing. As the world’s second-biggest, this industry can more than treble its current 5% share of global commerce in the next five years.

A look into the history:

The nature of the global textile trade changed dramatically as a result of industrialization. In the late nineteenth century, thriving British companies were producing vast amounts of yarn and cloth at a low cost, both for domestic use and for export. With its huge population under the supervision of the British imperial government at the time, India was a tempting market for industrial enterprises. By the 1890s, the ensuing flow of foreign fabric entering India was increasingly viewed as a danger to the country’s native textile industry. This caused widespread outrage and began a political movement to free India from British rule. Indian textiles were employed as protest and national identification symbols in the aftermath of enormous social turmoil and growing nationhood.

Clothes as a symbol of resistance:

The oppression of India’s economy by the British sparked the swadeshi movement in the 1890s. Swadeshi advised the country to reject foreign items in favour of Indian goods. In his appeal for swaraj, Mohandas Gandhi was motivated by the notion of self-reliance. Gandhi encouraged Indians to wear khadi, a hand-woven cloth made from hand-spun cotton. He felt that by doing so, he would be able to provide jobs for the common people and eliminate poverty. Indian nationalists chose khadi fabric as a symbol of rebellion in 1921, and the spinning wheel was included in the layout of the flag.

After India gained independence from British control in 1947, the new government prioritised modernization, and textile manufacturers were forced to adapt to increasingly metropolitan conditions. They honed their abilities throughout the years to secure their continuing artistic, financial, and international relevance.

Current Global overview:

The worldwide clothing business is currently worth over $ 1.9 trillion and is predicted to expand to more than $ 2.6 trillion by 2025. The worldwide demand for clothes is expected to expand at a five percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Among the world’s top five clothing markets, India and China are expected to expand at a stable CAGR of 12% and 10%, respectively, compared to a worldwide total of 5% during the next few years. China is largely predicted to surpass Japan to be the world’s largest clothing consumer by 2025, with a total worth $450 billion, while India will beat Japan to hold the fourth place on this list, with a marketplace worth more than $ 160 billion.

The textile sector in India employs around 4.5 crore people, including 35.22 lakh handloom professionals. In 2018-19, the sector provided 7% of total industry production (by value). In 2018-19, the Indian textiles and clothing sector contributed 2% to GDP, 12% to export revenues, and 5% to global fabrics and garment trade. Textile exports were US$ 22.89 billion during April and October 2021.

Domestic overview:

Cotton output is predicted to reach 37.10 million bales, with consumption reaching 114 million bales in FY21, representing a 13% increase over the previous year.
In FY20, India’s raw cotton manufacturing is expected to hit 35.4 million bales. During FY19, India’s fibre output stood at 1.44 million tonnes, rising to 2.40 million tonnes in FY21, whereas yarn manufacturing stood at 4,762 million kgs over the same time. Even during the pandemic, India’s domestic textile exports increased at a steady 9 percent in FY21.

Advantages in India:

India is a fast-rising industrial economy with abundant vital resources (land, fuel, water, and labour), as well as a favourable regulatory environment for the textile and garment sectors to prosper. To attain higher growth rates than in the past, the MSMEs in the textile industry may leverage its strengths of a big raw material base, vast production infrastructure, huge manpower, and involvement at all stages of the production chain.

Expanding markets in India:

Over the previous decade, the Indian domestic market has outperformed the world’s major consuming areas, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Aside from rising consumer wealth in India, the industry is being propelled forward by the following key drivers:

• Indian consumers are altering their purchasing habits from need-based to aspiration-based. By 2030, 40% of the Indian population is predicted to live in cities, up from 21% in 2011.
• India is predicted to be the fastest expanding e-commerce market in the world.
• Increasing female labour-force participation.
• Growing worldwide brand and store presence, as well as the creation of new market segments.

Government initiatives:

The Indian government has enacted a number of export development programs for the textile industry. It has also permitted 100% FDI in the sector via the automated approach. The Rs. 10,683 crores PLI plan is projected to provide a significant boost to textile makers. The concept seeks to reward MMF (man-made fibre) garments, MMF fabrics, and ten categories of Technical Textiles goods.

Because the majority of textile businesses are MSME, the synthetic fibre textile sector will also benefit greatly. Higher thresholds will now cover more units, providing a significant boost to manufactured fibre textile manufacturing, local supply, and exports. Aside from that, spinning and weaving units which represent the MSME textile industry in India, will gain from this change.

The government also cleared a framework for integrating the other two MSMEs schemes, namely a Rs 20,000 crore package for troubled MSMEs and a Rs 50,000 crore equity injection via a fund of funds.

To make India a global industrial centre, the government has allocated a large chunk of stimulus measures to infrastructure expenditure, issuing $ 66 billion in highway contracts totalling around 50,000 kilometres to develop national roads and expressways. Initiatives in special economic zones, high-speed rail, and specialised freight routes are forcing India to undergo extraordinary reshaping. The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is a big move, with the government investing more than $1.4 trillion to develop world-class technology.

India is launching big steps to expand its technical textile sector. As a result of the pandemic, there is an increase in demand for technical textiles in the form of PPE suits and equipment.
Top players in the industry are achieving sustainability in their goods by producing textiles made from natural recyclable resources.
The MSME textile industry’s future is bright, driven by a robust domestic market as well as export demand. With rising consumerism and disposable money, the retail industry has expanded rapidly in the last decade, thanks to the arrival of major multinational businesses into the Indian market.
Increased discretionary income has resulted from rapid economic expansion. This has increased product demand, resulting in a massive domestic market.