Indian Textile Summit: FDI to boost apparel sector

With the relaxation of FDI norms it is expected to create unprecedented opportunities for the textiles and clothing industry of India said Thomas Varghese of Aditya Birla Group at the recent Indian Textile Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Textile

Industry (CITI) in Mumbai. The summit was attended by over 250 participants from various segments related to the textile industry. The well attended summit discussed some critical issues and opportunities emerging in the global as well as Indian textile sector.

Welcoming the participants at the summit, Prem Malik, Deputy Chairman, CITI stressed on the need to improve production efficiency to meet competition from low cost Asian competitors, for the improvement of clothing industry in India. He felt that the country had the potential to raise its share in global apparel trade from the current 3.1 to 6-7 per cent. He also felt that some of the measures announced by the government recently like liberalizing retail investment would help the textiles sector to improve its performance.

 

Varghese said that textiles and clothing products would be the core component of most of the multi brand outlets because of its high margin and the ability to create differentiation through private labels. He felt that this sector would be one of the major beneficiaries of the liberal retail trade scenario. FDI in retail would increase competition but it would also create opportunities for the industry to garner scale and become world class players. Currently clothing occupies 36 per cent of the overall retail segment and this would increase substantially after more organised retailers enter the market. He further added that the demand for readymade and western outfit was growing at 40-45 per cent annually, but the key for success in the emerging competitive environment would be to deliver affordable and accessible fashion to the value conscious customers.

R Raghuttama Rao, MD, ICRA Management and Consultancy Services, in his paper on global economic situation observed that global recession had a negative impact on Indian textile industry but this would be a short term problem. Though the EU members were still in contraction mode and fighting the financial crisis, the recovery of consumption in US and the possibilities of the market emerging out of slowdown are expected to provide the much needed relief to Indian textile exports in the medium term. Moreover, the slowdown of Chinese economy and Vietnam, one of the lead players in the textile sector, would provide some competitive relief to India as the global demand starts to grow along with recovery. “The next phase would be really critical for the industry,” he said, adding, “Among the textile and clothing products, menswear continued to remain the biggest segment at present, but the growth would be higher in kid’s wear and women’s wear in future, leading to growth opportunities.”

In his concluding address, S V Arumugam, Chairman CITI said, “The industry’s fragmented nature and structural weaknesses had been preventing it from achieving its potential. Some sectors like fabric manufacturing and processing still languish as weak links in the textile value chain.”