The trade war between China and the U.S. was opening up opportunities for the Indian textile industry while also creating new challenges said Mr Prabhu Damodharan, Convenor of Indian Texpreneurs’ Federation, recently at the inaugural of a National Textile Conclave, which was attended by 150 delegates and organised by Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI) and Indian Texpreneurs Forum (ITF).
China’s dominance was reducing in global textile trade due to the trade war and Chinese textile exports to the USA had dipped 3-4 per cent. Meanwhile India, Bangladesh and Vietnam went on to double the growth during the same period and hence, it was a good opportunity for India to increase its exports. So, Mr Dhamodharan urged the textile manufacturers to focus on sustainable textiles while also concentrating at consistency in quality.
He said that we have the opportunities, the necessary eco-system and we only need to see double-digit growth in textile exports. 1.5 lakh new jobs could be created for every one billion dollars of textile exports and the sector hired about 43 per cent (a major chunk) of women. Thus, the best way to combat the challenge of job creation was to boost textile and apparel export.
However, the industry needs to make structural changes as no buyer, whether domestic or international would pay for the industry’s inefficiencies. Also, the industry should look at value-added garments, where the realisation per unit would be higher for blended products and also increase volumes for basic products. So, Mr Dhamodharan stated that the sector should improve on design innovation, been consistent in quality and focus on sustainable textiles.
