Textile Sector Likely To Achieve USD 250 Bn Business in Next 2 Years: Resurgent-Assocham Study

A study conducted shows that Textiles sector is likely to touch USD 250 billion in India within next two years from the current level of USD 150 billion.

The joint study was done by Assocham and Resurgent pointed out that the textile sector in India accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s manufacturing production, 5 per cent of its GDP, and 13 per cent of exports earnings.

The study also observed that textile sector is the second largest employment provider in the nation after agriculture sector and employed more than 51 million people directly and 68 million people indirectly in 2015-16.the number of employees may increase by the next year.

Policy Impact

The study also said that the government’s steps like demonetisation and the transition to GST have hit smaller players hard. Who had to face crucial time during the implementation of both.

The study further says that the number of workers affected due to closure of cotton and man-made fibre textile units (bigger units that comprise the non-SSI segment of the industry) during 2016-17 was 4,356 on account of the closure of 18 units, according to official Textile Ministry data on non-SSI units.

The Study

The study also observed that before two years, the numbers were 7,938 workers affected by the closure of 27 units in 2015-16 and 5,384 workers affected from the closure of 21 units in the year of 2014 and 2015, taking the cumulative figure to over 17,600 workers impacted by the closure of 67 units in the last three years.

Study found that the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has affected small and medium businesses in textile hubs such as Surat, Bhiwadi and Ichalkaranji.

Moreover, capital goods firms are struggling as most of the downstream sectors are saddled with excess capacity and low demand.

The study was released by the Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta. Tamta here said that the textile and handicrafts sector is economically important from the point of low capital investment, high ratio of value addition, and high potential for export and foreign exchange earnings for the country.