SPINNING THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

Delving into the world of textiles manufacturing with Indo Count Industries Ltd (ICIL), one of India’s leading home textiles manufacturers, that has weathered traditional challenges faced by the sector and emerged as one of the largest exporters. Let’s hear it out from Kailash Lalpuria, Executive Director & CEO in an exclusive interview with Kruti Bharadva.

- Kruti Bharadva

Textiles in India go a long, long way back- right from the ancient Indus civilisation- wherein excavations have yielded cotton strands woven together. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, mentions Indian cotton in the 5th century BCE as “a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.” When Alexander the Great invaded India, in 327 BCE, his troops started wearing cotton clothes that were more comfortable than their previous woollen ones. Strabo, another Greek historian, mentioned the vividness of Indian fabrics, and Arrian told of Indian– Arab trade of cotton fabrics in 130 CE.

Cut to the 21st century, India’s textiles industry has contributed as much as seven per cent to the industry output (by value) in 2019-20. The Indian textiles and apparel industry contributed two per cent to the GDP, 12 per cent to export earnings and held five per cent of the global trade in textiles and apparel for the same period.

What’s more? The share of India’s textiles and apparel exports in mercantile shipments was 11 per cent and the industry has around 4.5 crore employed workers, including 35.22 lakh handloom workers across the country in 2019-20. Exports of textiles stood at US$ 29.45 billion, as of March 2021. It is, therefore, no surprise that the textiles sector contributes and plays a significant role in the Indian manufacturing scene. The Machinist caught up with Kailash Lalpuria, Executive Director & CEO of Indo Count Industries who told us how the consumption pattern has changed along with the point of sales distribution and company’s strategies to gain deeper insight into the market requirements. Edited excerpts: