China loses leadership in global textile & apparel market India gains ground

With Indian companies going all out to offer global firms the best quality in best market price, the possibilities seem immense. The textile sector has also registered the highest growth in market cap in the BT500.

Winds of change can be witnessed with Liva – Aditya Birla-owned, Grasim Industries' branding raw material, the very first in the textile history. It has also tied-up with 22 apparel brands to create fashion using Liva fabric. Going by the consumers’ growing awareness on the New Age fabrics, people are ready to invest in new materials. The company’s Autumn/Winter 2016 production matrix has registered manufacture of 8.6 million Liva garments and by the onset of Spring/Summer 2017, 10 million Liva garments are about to hit stores.

With China becoming an expensive affair, foreign companies are eyeing this potent market. There are at least 15-20 large companies planning to source outside China.

Looking beyond China

Following the footsteps of Liva’s success, the Rs 2,000-crores Indo Count Industries, which gets over 65 per cent of its revenues by creating premium bed linens and bedding solutions for iconic global retail brands, such as Macy's, Debenhams and JC Penny, has recently launched its own premium bed linen brand, Boutique Living. Apart from launching its own brand, the company has also added international licensed brands, such as Harlequin, Sanderson and Scion, to its portfolio. Arvind, which already has a portfolio of branded apparels that contributes close to 30 per cent of its revenues, is also planning to develop Arvind-branded fabric. While brand play may not be the sole reason, it has substantially played a part in ensuring robust growth of the textile and apparel companies. The sector has been the highest gainer (19.8 per cent) in terms of market cap in the past one year.

Until recently the biggest competitor China was leaving no stone unturned to capture global expanse. But with cost of production and labour going up significantly and increasing domestic demand, a number of international apparel brands are now scouting for other sourcing destinations. Additionally, for retail presence and expansion also, companies are moving beyond China. This again has presented a big opportunity for India.

Domestic demand driving growth

Indian textile and apparel companies are going to witness the next level of growth from the domestic market. This is fundamentally possible because of increased appetite of consumers to adopt new things. If facts are to go by, consumption of branded apparels has grown by 25 per cent in the past one year, at a time when market sentiments were subdued. Nandan Denim, which manufactures fabrics for most leading denim brands, is expected to manufacture 110 million metres of denim fabric every day, compared to 99 million metres last year on the back of consumption in the domestic market. The key lies in constant innovation and offering something new to its customers. The next level of growth is possible only when the textile companies control the entire value chain and reducing the time to market. If all these things are in place, there’s no stopping India growth story.