Expo Overview
Textile Industry in India

The textile industry occupies a vital place in Indian economy and contributes substantially to its export earnings. Textile exports represent nearly 30 per cent of the country’s total exports. It has a high weightage of over 20 per cent in the national production. It provides direct employment to over 15 million persons in the mill, powerloom and handloom sectors. Consider its infrastructure: second largest producer of silk, largest producer of jute, one of the largest production base for cotton/Denims and never-tried-before blends of linen.

The exquisite quality of Indian textiles has been hailed since ancient times.  The sheer mystique of their textures have captured the imagination of royalty and commoners alike.  It is the appreciation and acceptance that it has met with the world over that makes the Indian Textile Industry what it is today-an industry with one of the highest growth rates in India.  The textile industry has a strong socio-economic significance in India's national economy.  It contributes around 5% of GDP & accounts for over one-third of India's total exports.  It is also the largest foreign exchange earner.

The Indian Textile Industry has a fairly complex structure. At one end of the spectrum is the hand spinning and hand weaving operations and on the other, a highly sophisticated, capital-intensive and high speed manufacturing activity.  Between the two extremes, the industry manufactures a staggering range of fabrics, furnishings, dress material & floor coverings, made-ups and garments.

The Process of economic liberalisation begun in the last decade has seen the industry become globally competitive - not only in terms of price, but also quality.  Modernisation, has not been restricted to the installation of sophisticated processing machinery, wide width looms, autoconers, electronic clearers, splicers, etc. but also to the adaptation of quality systems conforming to ISO 9000 standards.  The recent developments in the European markets on Eco-friendly textiles has sent the Indian Industry into a flurry of activity to adapt itself to market requirements. 

Radical economic changes introduced by India and the move towards integrating India with the rest of the world in the context of technology and trade has opened up new opportunities for Indian textiles. Globalisation, abolition of quotas and establishment of WTO have further thrown up momentum for its acceleration. India’s textile industry is poised to take a leap in the new globalised scenario as it is implementing a modernisation programme costing US$6 billion.

About six per cent of world merchandise trade is constituted by textile and clothing. Indian textile industry is worth around Rs.800 billion (US$ 22.05 billion) accounting for approx. 20% of India’s total industrial output. Textile exports of US$ 11.1 billion achieved in 1999-2000 accounted for more than one-third of India’s overall exports. India’s textile exports are increasing at the rate of 20% annually,  US$ 50 billion has been set by 2010.

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