The document discusses the stability and sustained growth of the Indian textile industry in 2013 despite global economic challenges, showing the industry's strength to withstand fluctuations. It argues that for the industry to demonstrate this stability more broadly, it is time for India to look beyond commodity textiles and focus on technical textiles, where there is large unmet demand especially for biodegradable materials in medical, architectural, and other applications. The focus in 2014 should be increased efforts from industry and R&D centers to develop new natural biodegradable fibers and convert them into technical textiles.

1. A L
- MittalPatel,Director,ABCCorporation,Ahmedabad
"lndustryneedsanoverhauling"
rFhe Year2013was of mixed type for Indian textile
I inarrr,ty. on the onehand the mill sector(spinning/
weaving) nia a gooayear,the decentraliibd powerloom
weaving sectorhad one or the other hiccupslike power
cuts,high tariff in power, Iabour strikes' somestate
policieslike LBTin Maharashtra,etc'
Textileis the highest employment providing industry
in India besidesagriculture, soit will alwaysremain a
satisfactorygrowing industry' Also good monsoonseason
last year will help it to sustainmomentum till next season'
the industry, paiticularly weaving, needsan overhauling as
it is behavinglike an old car askingfor replacement
immediately.We areat least 15yearsbehind Chinain
terms of technologyandmaybe5 yearsfrom evenpoor
countrieslike Bangladeshand Pakistan'This gap needsto
be fulfilled by hitech machinesin weaving industry and
getting goodexportsorderfrom west only on basisof
iuafiti a'nanot somelucrative government scheme/policy'
Thewishlist is endlessasIndianswe arealways
demandingeverything from government and nevertry to
fut in tt aiextra efforts like the Chineseor Japanese'The
'Government
should only try to curb corruption (in schemes
like TUFSandother subsidies),bring down import duties
for machinery not affecting Indian manufacturers'conduct
moreseminais/exhibitionsat subsidisedratesin China/
USA/Europeto showcasetalents and skills of Indian
manufacturers.
f,i'ttl
=
g
SunilKumarSharma,DGM,LoknayakJPNSSSGLtd'
Nandurbar,Maharashtra.
which insPires
cotton growersto sowingmorecotton' CottonSeed
developingcompaniesarealsoworking very hard to
develophigh yield cotton seedto obtain higher cotton
produclion per hectare'Henceit seemsthat there is
significant scopefor increasingthe cotton balesproduction
MittalPatel,Director,ABCCorporation,Ahmedabad'
,,RecgveryindevelopednationsprovidesOpp0rtunity"
_sunilKumarsharma,DGM,LoknayakJpNsssGLtd,Nandurbar,Maharashtra
Zear 2013was the recoveryyear for Indian textile
I irrdrrr,ry after sluggishfinancial years2011& 2012'
Thetime was greatly supportedby worldwide lower cotton
prices,lower raw material price volatility' highest cotton
crop production in 2012and good export demandsin yarn
f,r.it"a by Chinamarket with a strong dollar pricing'
The country crossedthe export targets significantly
alongwith great suPportfrom domesticmarket' which
netpla Indiin textile industry recoverfrom the nightmare
of year2011 when its backboneof industrywas almost
crackeddueto very high fluctuation in cotton pricing'
Theyear 2013is not only important for financial
,".ou.ry but it will alsorememberfor it's greatheritage
u, ,o*" of most popular textile policiesdeclaredby the
various state governmentsof Maharashtra'Gularat'
MadhyaPradesh,Karnataka& Rajasthanand RR-TUFS
schemeby Govt of India to motivate the investment in
textile sector.Hencenow it is the time for a good
valediction of year 201'3for a better future of textile
industrY.
Indian textile industry is looking hopefully for coming
year 2o74,with a strong back support of last fiscalyear'
india is secondlargestcotton producing counffy and also
secondlargest
yarn producing
country in the
world. Our cotton
balesProduction
significantlY
increasedin last
few years,
however we still
arebehind in
cottonYieldPer
hectare.In Iast
few yearscotton
crophasbecome
a profitable
agriculture
commoditY,
32 The lndianTextileJournal I Januaryt2014

2. in country.If presenttrend is sustainedsoonIndia will
producemore than 400 lakh balesper year.At the back of
good monsoon all over country,now cotton production is
expectedaround382lakh bales(ie,eachbaleof170 kg)for
year2013-14.Lookingto the continuouseffortsin field of
cotton growing and increaseiD.cottonproduction, India
hasgreatpotential to becometop most cotton fibre
producing country in world.
Now have a look at the world top most cotton
production country,China,which is suffering with their
hugecarryforward stock,ie,Endingstockofyear 2ol2-73
is 10440thousand metric tons and Chinais expectedto
have an ending stockof 12520thousand metric tons in
year 2O73-74.While cotton balesconsumption of Chinais
reducedby approximately5 per centin year2012-13as
comparedto previousyear.
This huge carryforward cotton stockhasput huge
pressureon Chinesegovernment,forcing it to discourage
the cotton balesimport. Not only carryforward stockof
Chinaincreasesbut world cotton stockis alsoreachingan
all-time high level (ie,Projectedworld cotton stockfor year
201,3-74is 1.8.27million metric tons which is almost 20 per
cent higher ascomparedto last year)and world ending
cotton stockfor 2074is againprojected as20.3million
metric tons.
Highest cotton balesproduction & stockwill lead to
Iessups & dovrmsin cotton pricing and will definitely
support spinning industry for easy& better quality product
availability at throughout the year.Mostly in Gujarat,
Maharashtra& MPmany ginning factoriesaregoing to
take further expansionin spinning sectorsto get the
maximum benefit of new textile policy and value addition.
Therevisedrestructuretechnology fund scheme
(RR-TUFS)by government of India will alsoboost new
investment in textile sector.Henceit is expectedto
increasethe spindleagecapacityin coming year.
In year 2013our yarn export achieveda new height
with the support of European& Chinesemarket demand.
Labourcostin Chinais continuously increasingand
spinning sectorin Chinais alsosuffering for labour shor-
tage which is badly affecting the spinning productivity.
India hasgreat opPortunity to fill this vacuum by increa-
sing yarn export. overall it seemsthat year 2014will be
a recordproduction year for raw cotton and cotton yarn
aswell asman-madefibre yarn production too.
Most of the factors seemto be suitablefor spinning
industries like lessvolatility in cotton pricing, availability
ofgood quality cotton, expectedgood export demandfrom
China,Bangladeshand Europeancountries,hencewe
expectthat Indian spinning industries will be in full
swing in year 2074.
In clothing and readymadegarment sectorIndia is
facing very strong competition from their neighbouring
countries like Sri Lanka,Bangladeshand Chinaand it will
be continue in year 2014.However economyrecoveryin
most of the developedcountrieswill provide better
opportunity to Indian clothing & garments industry to
expandtheir scope.
In totality we arevery hopeful for New Year20t4, a
great opportunity is looking aheadfor Indian textile
industry where the country may achieveleadership
position in textile world. After agriculture textile is second
largestindustry in India and hencethe expectedgrowth in
throughout textile supply chainwill alsoenergisethe
country's GDPand employment position.
Expectedexport growth of textile products in coming
year will increasethe foreign currencyflow in country
which will alsostrengthen the Indian currency.
"ltstimetolookbeyondcommoditytextiles"
- ArnabSen,AsstProfessolNIFT,Bhopal
Th.
stability and sustainedgrowth
I of the Indiantextile industry in 2013,
amidst the economiccrisisthat the world
hasbeenfacing especiallyin the manu-
facturing sector,revealedthat the industry
hasgainedthe strength and maturity over
the yearsto withstand the fluctuations in
global trade to any extent.
In order to manifest this stability in a
wider perspective,it is time for the textile
industry oflndia to look beyond
commodity textiles, limited to wears and
furnishings, towards technical textiles.
ArnabSen,AsstPtofessor,NlFl
Bhopal.
Therelies an unending scopeof growth in
this sector,the demandbeing on a constant
rise in the areasof medical,geo-and archi-
tectural textiles, generatedchiefly out ofthe
extensiveneedfor biodegradablematerials.
The faster the underlying potential is
exploited,the more gainful the Indian textile
industry canbe!
The focus in2Q74thus needsto be a boost
in concertedefforts from the industry and the
R&Dcentrestowards developmentof newer
biodegradablefibres ofnatural origin and
their conversioninto technicaltextiles.
34 The fndianTextileJournal I January2014