Textiles plays a major role in the Indian economy: reports India’s textile commissioner Dr. Kavita Gupta
India’s Textile Commissioner Dr. Kavita Gupta Is optimistic on Industry’s growth in textiles. She informed that Textiles plays a major role in the Indian economy as it contributes 14% to industrial production and 4% to GDP. However, since the industry is facing a steep challenge from China and other Asian countries, which can create a situation where the employment of over 45 million people may come under huge distress, the Textile Commissioner Dr. Kavita Gupta is proactively implementing various schemes and promoting the local industry.
The size of India’s textile market was around US$ 150 billion a year ago and is poised to zoom into US$ 250 billion markets 2019, thanks to a number of initiatives from the Modi Govt. According to various estimates, the textile market’s growth is expected to be at CAGR of 13.58%.
Dr. Kavita Gupta says that India has always held a place of pride in cotton and textiles. It is essential for it to retain that position and make it stronger and more vibrant. She states that India needs to continuously develop and innovate and keep moving forward as it cannot afford to be complacent.
Notwithstanding this, under the Government of Narendra Modi, the industry has seen tremendous development not just at the policy framework level but also at the level of execution of the framed policies. Dr. Gupta ‘s contributions in this over the last 3 years has been unmatched. The initiatives have been able to transform the various sections of Textile industry. For instance, cotton has seen extensive growth in production and quality improvement.
Dr. Gupta says that in cotton, the world over, a lot of pilot projects have been taken along with continuous R&D efforts, which in turn have helped in increasing the yield and quality in most cotton growing countries. India has to put its systems in place and customise the global best practices to improve quality and yield level and achieve global standards also in cost, pricing, etc. amongst others.
In addition to this, Dr. Gupta informed that the Textile Ministry is majorly focusing to promote Technical Textile in India.
Technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where the function is the primary criterion, has caught popular attention. It has a huge demand in aerospace, shipping, sports, agriculture, defence and healthcare sectors. The Textile Ministry and the Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani to has paid huge attention to technical textile at various levels. Recently, in a program at NIFT, Smt. Irani asked the students whether they have attempted an understanding of emerging technical textile capacities as there is a huge opportunity waiting out there.
