A STITCH IN TIME

TEXTILES

India is one of the world’s largest producers of textiles and garments. The textile sector is one of our oldest industries, with a mix of hand-spun and hand-woven textiles on the one end and capital-intensive sophisticated mills on the other. Power looms, hosiery and knitting form the largest component of the sector that contributed 7 per cent to India’s industry output in value terms in 2018-19. Overall, the industry contributes 2 per cent to the country’s GDP, employs about 45 million people and contributed 15 per cent to our export earnings in 2018-19. Globally, India is ranked second in textile export with a 6 per cent share and fifth in apparel export with 4 per cent share. In terms of capacity, the industry has the second largest vertically integrated textiles production base in the world after China.

But despite its many advantages, the productivity of India’s textile factories, the technology used and the products lag far behind that of China and even of countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, which were relatively late in building capabilities in an industry that can generate wealth and jobs at the grassroots level. India’s textile exports of $40 billion are no match for China’s $269 billion. Between 2000 and 2010, China doubled its share in the global export of apparel from 18.2 per cent to 36.4 per cent, but India inched upward from a mere 3 per cent to 3.2 per cent. This makes it the ideal candidate for the government’s push toward atmanirbharta, and build on the strengths of companies that have a presence not just in India but also in the global market.

GRASIM INDUSTRIES

ESTABLISHED: 1947

Suited to the Task