General Management @ Knowledge Zone



Textile Industry Post MFA

by Siddharth Patnaik & R. Janaki *

Part - I

Introduction

The Textile Industry plays an extremely significant role in India especially in terms of share in value added, foreign exchange earnings, and employment. It is the second largest in terms of direct employment (about 35 m people). Besides, it has a very important role to play at the country's macro economic level. Just to put things in perspective, the sector contributes to almost 14% of the industrial production and about 35% of the gross export earnings. The sector's contribution to the GDP stands at over 6%. Due to all of the above, the growth of the industry has a bearing on the development of the economy, especially exports.

India accounts for 22 per cent of the world installed capacity of spindles and is one of the largest exporters of yarns in international market. The industry contributes about 25 per cent share in the world trade of cotton yarn. Cotton yarn accounts for the largest proportion of the yarn production in the country. With the impending dismantling of quotas in 2004 under mandate from the Agreement in Textile and Clothing of the WTO, the focus has clearly shifted to the future of the Indian textile and clothing exports.

Employment 15 Million People
Share in India's Export 30%
Share in National Industrial Production 20%
Share in Global Textile Trade 3%
Land Under Cotton Cultivation 9 Million Hectares
Rank in World Cotton Output 3rd

Our main competitors in the textile sector include countries like China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Like India, these countries too are cost-effective textile producers due to the advantage of lower labor costs.

Country Share in Total World Exports
China 14%
US 5%
Korea 5%
Hong Kong 3%
India 3%
Japan 2%

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* Contributed by -
Siddharth Mohan Patnaik, B.Tech. (Electronics),
Ravulpathi Janaki, B.Tech. (Mechanical),
II Year, IIM Lucknow.