Union Minister Supports ITF’s Textile And Apparel Growth Plans
The Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) recently met with Union Textile Minister, Giriraj Singh, to present a comprehensive report on the ‘Opportunities and Challenges for the Indian Textile and Apparel Sector.’ The meeting focused on strategies to harness the China Plus One opportunity in apparel exports and enhance India’s monthly apparel export rate from the current US$ 1.5 billion. In comparison, China’s monthly apparel exports stand at US$ 12 billion.
The ITF’s roadmap for growth emphasized themes such as scale, competitiveness, specialization, integration, and market diversification. One key proposal was to build a ready-to-cut dyed fabric ecosystem in India to boost efficiency and cost competitiveness within the SME apparel sector. The team also underscored the importance of creating semi-integrated and integrated manufacturing ecosystems to handle large-volume commodity apparel exports.
To increase market share in the U.S. man-made fiber (MMF) apparel market, valued at US$ 35 billion, the ITF recommended forming knowledge partnerships with MMF-specialized countries and replicating this model within Indian clusters. Additionally, the team highlighted the potential of non-traditional markets like Japan, which has a US$ 23 billion potential. They proposed selecting five exporting companies from five major clusters and providing them with targeted support to foster a positive approach towards these markets.
The ITF also pointed out that improving cotton yield to 1000 kg per hectare could be a game-changer for the entire textile value chain and significantly boost farmer incomes. Discussions included satellite mapping of cotton cultivation, new plans to boost e-commerce fashion exports, and addressing structural issues such as import duties on cotton and the inverted duty structure on MMF.
Minister Singh assured his commitment to the key points raised, particularly efforts to boost textile and apparel exports to create more jobs and develop a concrete plan to improve cotton yield. He also expressed his willingness to direct policy measures aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in textiles.
