[January 22, 2006] SPINNING INTO PROSPERITY (Indian textile industry to be the second biggest beneficiary in the quota-free regime) Tweet (India Business Insight Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The Rs1,30,000-crore Indian textile industry has reinvented itself to leverage on the new opportunities being opened up in the quota-free regime. The domestic textile industry accounts for four percent of the GDP and 14 percent of the industrial production, besides 35 percent of the country's export earnings. It is the third largest producer of cotton (3,009 million kgs), the fourth largest producer of polyester filament (650 million kgs), second largest producer of silk (42,383 million square metres), is the second largest producer of viscose (53 million kgs) and has the second highest spindleage in the world (37 million spindles). The industry has witnessed much consolidation with the emergence of a number of modern units with the latest technologies and global-size capacities instead of multiple small units. The number of garment manufacturers has declined from 20,000 in 2003 to 5,000 in 2005. Other factors in favour of the industry include the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) of the Government of India, soft cotton prices owing to increased use of BT cotton and the US-China textile pact, which restricts Chinese exports. The Indian industry is thus set to be the second biggest beneficiary after China in the quota-free regime. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]