Textiles sector on revival path - Textiles Minister

Thiru. Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister of Textiles said that textiles sector has started showing sign of revival with increase in investment, production, employment and exports.

The production of fibre, yarn and cloth have shown a positive growth during April to November 2009. The production of cloth increased by 10.8 percent, man-made fibre and yarn production grew by 21.3 & 11.8 percent, respectively, and the total spun yarn production increased by 5.1 percent during the period.Thiru. Maran was addressing the textiles industry at the conference organised by the FICCI on ‘Emerging global trends and the way forward for Indian Textiles Industry’.

The second quarter of the current fiscal saw a strong revival in sales growth, and weaving companies posted a sales growth of 19.7 percent, spinning industry 8.9 percent, man-made Fibre industry 15.7 percent and readymade garments industry 14.2 percent, said the Minister. The Sector witnessed a favourable investment climate since last quarter of last fiscal and weaving companies announced 5 new projects with an investment of Rs. 144 crore while the spinning industry announced 20 new projects worth Rs. 257 crore, said the Minister. Thiru Maran said that the revivals in demand had led to an addition of 3.18 lakh employees during second quarter of the fiscal, this is in contrast to the displacement of 1.54 lakh employees in the previous quarter.

The Minister said that the India’s overall textiles exports (excluding garments) during April-June 2009 fell by 21.8 percent, and the sign of revival were seen during the July 2009 with an increase of 2.92 per cent. The apparel export sector has also shown signs of revival after falling y-o-y for eight months in a row, the value of India’s apparel exports to the US grew in September 2009, said the Minister.

Thiru. Maran said that 60% of Indian exports of textiles and over 70% of clothing are to USA and EU 27 markets, and there is an urgent need to broaden product mix and explore new markets, while maintaining and increasing Indian textiles and clothing (T&C)share in core markets through product innovation and diversification. If sustained efforts are made by the industry, the country can capture additional US$ 1.5 billion textile and clothing export in US market, which will also help to generate additional employment opportunities, said the Minister. Thiru. Maran said that initiative of his Ministry to pool the resources of all the Export Promotion Council to mount mega shows in non-traditional markets like Japan, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa has been a success and this endeavour will continue.

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