08 October 2022, Mumbai:

According to research, the US limitations on select textile imports from China's Xinjiang region augur well for Indian textile exporters. The US placed limitations/restrictions on importing some goods from the Chinese province of Xinjiang on September 14 due to concerns about using unlawful and gross human rights violations/cruel forced labor there.
The stated view here is that the anticipated move is in the larger of local textile exporters. At the outset albeit, the restrictions/limits have been put on an (SBs) a small number of companies, more visibly more far-reaching regional products' ban is in the works. It does not stop here it has an ambit of also numerous regional businesses engaged in the production of apparel/clothing and processed cotton.
According to the study, this is a thoughtful step in the direction of supply chains trying to decouple or create alternate credible supply chains out of China on the back of multiple challenges lately supply chains are posed there.
What is remarkable is as many Indian apparel/garment exporters alluded that China plus one is for real now; as a considerable exports uptick in orders is been witnessed or there are buyers who are at the start of this new upcycle of foreign clients actively negotiating to leverage the incremental degree of sourcing out of India.
According to the article research & probe as we move ahead trade experts are sanguine about this most recent development and, this is anticipated to gradually firm up in a trend as we keep delivering and cash in on the opportunity on hand. More importantly, cotton-based apparel is expected to derive continued gains as
opportunity keeps getting big currently.
Practical implications
Considering, in practice to keep expanding the prohibition going on for a long has its own set of difficulties given the existing mechanism is not sufficient condition in track & trace for sure to figure out the raw materials sourcing hub and origin which is inexplicable. The clear-cut grey area is, Xinjiang region-grown cotton will be construed as yarn or fabric for that matter in another geographical piece or nation, where it may always invite additional processing to make a piece of apparel/clothing.
That uncertainty brings in the sense of deja vu of obstacles/bottlenecks it creates over & over again in hindsight during the current US-China trade war over the period.
according to the ICRA report, Another potential incidental fallout can be China may take punitive measures that would likely block an expansion of the embargo. Whilst this geopolitical development gives elbow room to anticipate industry analysts that this demand tailwind is likely to fuel a supportive surge in Textile exports in the current fiscal year (FY).
Again on the back of a rise dryness factor in its primary cotton-producing regions and incidental crop damage from the very recent storms, drives the revision in the US estimated cotton production come down from 17.06 million bales in September to 17.05 million in this October.
News galore
We are today living in the digital age where the internet and (SMs) social media are abuzz with messages and videos calling/calling out global authorities for intervening and driving banning Chinese goods and merchandise.
What is million dollar question is: How justified Is all the above?
This has also the potential of precipitating a palpable anti-China sentiment nudging Indian buyers to in turn decline articles originating out of China igniting your sense of patriotism.
However, economists and academics are well advised to take a scientific assessment underpinning will be trade data between India & China.

Latest Textile News

01 October 2022, Mumbai:

The technical definition of these types of fabrics is fabrics with attributes of aligning/adjusting in accordance with the respective application areas. · Water Pressure Resistance · Abrasion Resistance Flame-Retardant.

Functional textiles are broadly textile materials manufactured inherently with basic functionalities focused on meeting well-intended end-use applications besides expected to well deliver its requirement apart from their basic purpose & application.

The performance demonstrability of the latest trends in fabric development for the functional textile industry is all about the topical issue of current innovations in high-performance fabrics.

The panorama of the modern-day brands' is the journey of having gone down the path of hitting (Carbon Neutrality) & measurability of the fabrics' performance metrics, formulas, thesis, and theories quantifying as an actionable point is 'key performance parameters and impact factors.

Therefore, they are versatile and attributable to their twin integrated functions of calibrating or aligned to the predictable application.

Sustainability strategy

The functional fabrics segment is sustainably committed to mitigating & minimize the CO2 emissions for this type of fabric used in the apparel/clothing industry to define & re-imagine the Fashion industry's future.

Most simplistically sustainability strategy stems from the quest to re-wire, re-think & reimagine businesses for a “greener product” resting on the principles of imaginative/innovative technologies enabling businesses to sustainably derive meaningful gains in the realms of economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

Therefore, the need of the hour is to design & develop the plant for the abatement of contaminating/polluting plentiful wastewater and its requisite management to the lessen sector's environmental impact.

Product Line

Some of the new age functional fabrics with cutting edge are polyamide pre-consumer recycled warp knit fabric, Sports Fabric, Mesh Fabric, 3M Dry-Fit, Wicking, Coolmax, Water Proof, and Anti-UV amongst many others.

User applications for these fabrics are in the space of Protective Textiles, Medical Textiles, Clean Room Textiles, Nanotechnology, sportswear, urban wear, and athleisure, wherever one has to ensure exceptional performance and contemporary stylization.

With an eye on the talks around sustainability, perfect hi-performance, product design & conscious focus on the end consumer desired lifestyle, comfort & convenience leveraging on the back on digitization, digital adoption, evolving versatile technologies. Again, at the end of the day not overlooking the end product's grained attributes such as enduring value and visual appeal.

The reality on the ground

There are worldwide centers for Functional Fabrics looking at bridging academia and industry in these specialized textiles with the core aim of pivoting the textiles of the future and the world is getting very positive about this.

According to DREXEL UNIVERSITY RESEARCH MAGAZINE," “Functional fibers,” unlike traditional fabrics, integrate yarns and fibers engineered to see, hear, sense and communicate".

One of the studies conducted way back in 2020," Technical textile is where the spotlight is currently accounting for approximately 13% of India's total textile".

Taiwan's textile industry single-handedly contributes to as high as 70% of the world's market share of functional fabrics strongly attained out of the innovative prowess, heft & capabilities honed through decades by Taiwan's textile industry as a front runner, according to the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) supporting industry tapping into opportunities like well-known international outdoor, shapewear, swimwear, sports-inspired and sportswear marquee brands of the world through the years.

What is right for the industry is right for all of us and let us not get caught in the noise and survive in the new normal!

Latest Textile News

28 September 2022, Mumbai:

Sustainable is fashionable. Sustainability is attainable. Sustainability is achievable. All the above must be sounding like cliché. It is only going to dominate global fashion in the coming decades. The semblance is sustainable fashion is no more aspirational.

Apparel industry pledge

Visibly most of the brands and retailers have in recent years placed on record the steps they are announcing or have been undertaking/planning through the period-making process, supply chains to produce green products and responsible and ethical manufacturing.

There are cases where marquee brands like H&M, Sweden's global retail biggie, and many others have solemnly pledged to lay the road map to seriously cut emissions, plastic use (to be replaced by sustainable recycled products), and water footprint levels by 2030 V/s the current emission levels.

Pulse check

Anecdotally the amount of climate footprint & apparel industry's adverse ecological impact visibly is not showing any significant decline despite all HULLABALOO around underlying aspirational sustainable fashion. A quick anecdote of the latest talked-about global events in recent weeks continues to make a structural case for the same.

Regrettably what is true is the industry is yet to credibly figure out how to align the sacrosanct climate goals with apparel global supply chains and evolving apparel business models.

According to recent UN estimates fashion accounts for 2-8% or thereabouts of the entire world's carbon footprints/emissions.

Debate on Fast Fashion vs. Slow Fashion

Fast fashion is typically mass-produced, low-ticket value articles with a faster turnaround and driven by the motive of efficiency and profitability using the latest AI and ML at its core.

Slow fashion Manufacturers tend to ensure their clothes are eco-friendly, pricier, and hard-wearing so as to check the amount of apparel/clothing that ends up in landfills. Europe is to crack down on fast fashion through proposals to target apparel/clothes at every stage; to make the clothing made and worn reusable, repairable, designed to deliver enduring value, and recyclable.

Buzzword of circulaity

The EU Commission has recently published the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. This offers the ambitious vision that in only eight years, by 2030, textile products on the EU market will be long-lived, free of hazardous substances, and produced by respecting the environment and social rights.

The vision is for consumers to benefit from high-quality affordable textiles; for fast fashion to be out of fashion; and for producers to take responsibility for their products along the value chain.

Walk the talk

A simple case of 'More commitment & lesser delivery'. Time is for setting realistic expectations. There is a clear-cut need for transparency & traceability going forward. Harping on this phenomenon; Transparency deals holistically overseeing the supply chain/mapping, whilst traceability dwells on broken down units or so to say POs (Purchase Orders), etc as one moves ahead along the value chain journey.

According to one of the BSR, sustainable consulting companies paper," The sector is at a juncture where there is a belated sense of realization with many of this sector company that, they have a situation that appears irreconcilable. The factors like degrowth and alternative models to growth are clearly something the sector frets about".

The theme is what brands put on the table; What is been wishfully aspired for and been aimed at where there is a lot of unanimity amongst climate scientists/experts/global trade observers is that say in between today (As it is never too late for doing things right) and 2050 (GHGs) greenhouse gas emissions, it is business imperative and the dire need that ill gas emission has to be reduced by 80% as we don't have the luxury of the time anymore and, building blocks have already been set in place (Y-O-Y/year-on-year by around 4% or thereabouts relentlessly from 2010 onwards) 

Latest Textile News

04 October 2022, Mumbai:

Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a nobel inititative/platform where the foundational spade work was done by a group of sustainability global impact leaders belonging to apparel and footwear industry.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition is currently the leading & largest alliance for sustainable production in the (T&C) apparel/clothing, textile industry, and footwear industry designed around the theme of sustainability with the good intentions of improving transparency/traceability within these sectors. The key objective of this leading & largest frontrunner alliance for sustainable production is to ensure sustainable production in the clothing and footwear industry.

Preamble

SAC collaborates to create meaningful, sustainable change within the apparel, footwear and textile industry. SAC members represent every link in the global supply chain. Their combined annual apparel and footwear revenues exceed $845 billion. It is no-brainer 'Collaboration is the centre of the SAC'.

The apparel alliance inherent strength is to harmonise its symmetric goals, solutions, tools, audting, reporting enthusiastically, holding common interest events/shows, counselling and training to construct an ever-connected/integrated, end-to-end pathway with holistic actionabilty all along for the apparel and footwear industry per se.

Constitutionality

SAC is a strong lineup of a sector-wide alliance in excess of 250 frontline apparel, footwear, and textile marquee brands, lead retailers, prominent suppliers/vendors, both mainstream & allied service providers, trade associations, nonprofits/NGOs and academia, trade bodies/institutions joining hands in the earnest to mitigate/cutdown the environmental and social impacts of globally manufactured articles/products.

SAC has been incorporated as a 501c(6) nonprofit organization and subsequently introduced the Higg Index suite of tools in 2011 in effect it is a bunch of tools developed enabling brands, retailers, vendors, and suppliers to evaluate and objectively track their sustainability metric performance.

The preamble of the Higg Index is," Working to Protect People and the Planet". The alliance is mandated to boost promoting sustainable manufacturing in the given sectors. For signatories, it is a starting point for pooling trade insights/information sharing having gone down this path seeking to rationalize/the standardization of assessment tools.

It promotes a process of self-assessment around the theme of social and environmental issues designed to measure the roped-in supplier’s factual performance level amongst other expectations.

The consumer side of the business

Today's evolved & globalized Consumers are pretty conscious & curious about WHERE their apparel/clothes are manufactured and sourced from. They want to take informed decisions by shelling out bucks that reflect their values and beliefs while buying apparel, textile, and footwear. Notably voting brands and retailers transparently based on their best business practices and standing to the test of what socio-economic & environmental impact they could have during the brand journey/Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).

2022 SAC Annual Meeting

In fact just to keep the industry posted this year’s SAC Annual Meeting is coming up on November 1-2, 2022 in Singapore. It is an event with the underlying objective of its global network of peers to connect, listen and learn from one another, and collaborate on sustainability solutions.

As per one of the industry reports, "Sustainable Apparel Coalition partners with Fair Wear and the Ethical Trading Initiative to help mobilize and facilitate the industry achieve actionably 45% GHG Science-Based Target emissions reduction by 2030 across the global value chain".

Sum and substance

Sustainable is fashionable. Sustainability is attainable. Sustainability is achievable. All the above must be sounding like cliché. It is only going to dominate global fashion in the coming decades. The semblance is sustainable fashion is no more aspirational.

Latest Textile News

30 September 2022, Mumbai:

As per industry estimate, the world apparel market size presently is approx US$ 1.7 trillion and constituting some 2% or thereabouts of the global GDP. The world offers a very skewed picture of how the global apparel pie looks as the EU, USA & China are accounting jointly for approximately 54% of the global share, likely to hit US$ 2.6 trillion by 2025 with a likely growth of 4%.

Global growth levers

Developing economies, like China & India, both clocking growths in double digits are the global apparel powerhouses likely to drive global growth. Whilst China, by all means, is set to dominate responsible for accreting more than US$ 378 bn in market size likely by 2025 while India also is best positioned as distant 2nd adding approximately US$ 121 bn, and this comes on the back of robust increase in Per capita apparel projected to rise by over 2x (CAGR of 9-11%) over next decade or so.

But at the same underpinning, the continued importance of the developed markets owing to their large size.

Deep dive

The article is trying to take measures of the effects of the world recession on the textile and apparel/garments (T&C) industries. It also takes a stock of how the textile global economy is getting affected by falling overall export demand to the US and the EU, economic headwinds & its far-reaching financial fallout leading to banking crisis threat and shrinking global trade.

The net importers of textiles goods & merchandise are broadly developed economies that remain, prominent consumers, & lead both in consumption & production of apparel/clothing up until now before the rise of Asia in the recent decades.

Concerns about a global recession

Given the present heightened tighter global financial conditions which potentially could spur a rise in debt distress sparing neither emerging market nor developing economies, and the more it all persists the harder it hurts. Underpinning what is triggering the global slowdown is stubborn inflation on the back of the extraordinary rising food and energy prices crisis, and with the Russia-Ukraine war No ending in sight, there is little chance of reversal at this juncture.

Considering the world economy is witnessing economic strong headwinds & a synchronized structural slowdown leading to a precipitous fall in global trade, supply shocks, and broken supply chains worsened by unequivocal policy uncertainties for a considerable time now. Adding to this near recessionary global trend in some sense was China's zero-COVID policy.

Russia @ war

It is well accepted globally now that the war between Russia and Ukraine has been no less than a black swan event hitting back to back post-covid 19 pandemic resulting in unprecedentedly weakening of the global economic/business environment and global credit issues.

The conflict deals a major blow to the global economy that will hurt growth and raise prices mindlessly. Most countries are regarding this event as the worst human tragedy post World War II besides inflicting serious global consequences beyond the suffering and humanitarian crisis unleashing unforeseen inflationary trends biting the common man all over the world.

A nuanced understanding of global recessions needs to recognize the vitality of emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) with the caveat of cross-border trade and financial linkages underpinning a globalized world where nobody is insulated/decoupled and let us say there is no place to hide.

Reckless rate hikes

There is no predictability/visibility as we write. The global central banks are under mounting pressure to maintain price stability against elevated inflationary expectations/outlook. Including the Fed most of the prominent central markets are relentlessly now raising rates at one of the fastest paces seen in decades. To drive the point 75 basis point (bps) rate hike by the US Fed very recently was the fifth in a row.

No gainsaying that major economies worldwide have steeply hiked interest rates on the back of hardened inflation. Here it is pertinent to mention stable prices are a necessary condition for persistent economic growth and inflation is inimical to growth. So it may sound cliché that sticky systemic imported inflation is serving no one's purpose.

In tandem RBI Monetary Policy 30 September 2022 also hiked repo rates by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.90%, and this is certainly a calibrated assessment of the macroeconomic variables, unfolding dynamic situation, and the inflation outlook. Citing on the occasion RBI, governor alluded, “ This as a third global storm in the form of aggressive central bankers stance after earlier two storms of COVID19 trepidation & Russia-Ukraine war”.

In summary

Everybody needs to keep the powder dry as war has unambiguously eroded near to mid-term global economic recovery/revival prospects post-pandemic. Living in uncertain times of fall in business confidence where you cannot take the eye off the ball. Arguably it will be too much of a bet to expect the economy to come out of this perfect global storm in a hurry given uncomfortably high global price pressures.

Global economists expect that albeit inflation though has peaked but more pains are ahead in FY23. The bad news is that the economic growth outlook globally is very pessimistic given the faster-than-predicted slowdown we have started to see. Naysayers have already begun to compare this unfolding situation to 'The Great Depression’ experienced between 1929 and 1939 as facts on the ground speak for themselves.

The most pressing issue in these trying conditions is leadership has to come from resilient economies like India which has got its house in order, markedly handled the pandemic well, and is looking relatively well as we write.

It is India's decade as lots of its underlying strengths are coming to the fore and semblance is there is a seminal mood shift. Eventually, together we will have to tick all the boxes right changing the narrative of our playbook to keep going as the cliché is this shall also pass.

Latest Textile News

27 September 2022, Mumbai:

The Post-Covid world witnessed a sea change in awareness and focus on health issues leading to the urban youth/millennium demographics embracing the workout clothes market category and only seeing its scope brightened up like never before.

The workout Clothes Market was valued at US$ 210.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to hit US$ 384.8 Billion by 2032, clocking a 6.2% CAGR through 2032.

Workout clothes are also called gym apparel as the line is blurring between conventional gym clothing/ “Athleisure,”. Broadly this clothesline is designed & curated to functionally improve physical fitness/athletes’ performance through sports, active life, and yoga performance facilitating augmented body movement which clearly is not the case wearing normal apparel/clothing.

Frontrunners

A case in point is Adidas AG, Asics Corporation, Columbia Sportswear Company, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. Gap Inc., and Nike, Inc. are a bunch of marquee global iconic brands that have taken a big stride in this given category for the good showing of this segment.

Functionality

Let us now touch upon the functionality side of this clothing/apparel. The given apparel/clothing is typically characterized in short by it regulating body temperature management as it gathers momentum. Furthermore, remarkable product attributes and properties they offer in a limited sense are properties such as breathability, sweat absorption, static resistance, heat resistance, and chemical resistance we see such similarities in categories viz sports, active & sportswear and not be caught in a noise.

Market trends and forecasts

Product mass acceptance & its adoption of the same is expected to influence more and more people geographically pushing up the market size. Moreover, one of the mega trend unfoldings is the increased physical activity engagement experienced amongst the conscious youth indulged in physical activities overlooking the increased culture of WFH (Work from Home/Hybrid working) in the Giga economy. Besides it, elderly demographics indulging in fitness activities is a demand tailwind driving the workout clothes segment and enlargening its market opportunities.

Product line

The product range encompasses amongst others Polyester dominated segment entailing shorts, sweatshirts & hoodies, tank tops offering high-tech performance-augmenting fitness apparel/garments, workout gear for commoners and amateurs besides a preferred product line for professional athletes, and sportsmen alike.

Opportunities

Opportunities are limitless & initiatives like organic and inorganic growth techniques, such as new product launches galloping, alliances, partnerships, and R&D heft where the industry is investing millions of dollars for discoverability, and collaborations will only serve for the good. The sense one gets is that functional superiority cutting-edge attributable benefits like easy wash/fast-drying, stretch-elasticity, and enough resistance to wrinkles & chemicals help segment build muscles in the competitive landscape.

Threats

Being more of a lifestyle apparel/clothing segment what raised serious concerns was that black swan events like COVID19 leading to off & on lockdowns had dealt a body blow to this category resulting in a decrease/crash in sales trajectory.

Equally what can jettison its growth story is the malaise of counterfeit articles with a bit of overshoot which can have a killing effect on the category. Theoretically, the fear is overdone as a category is holding up well on its own as in effect it could be counterfeiting rise & not the Workout Clothes Market fall.

What is in the pipeline

PRODUCT LAUNCH:

As a good sign, if we were to look @ we have started to see a lot of activity in the air and a handful of following developments are only reflecting the shape of things Global sports brand PUMA debuted the Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) workout clothes market collection in September 2021.

Eastbay and Champs Sports announced the debut of a new garment line in September 2021.

COLLABORATION:

Kappa and Hyosung's collaboration in October 2020.

ACQUISITION:

Nike announced the purchase of Collect, a workout clothes statistics.

Key markets

The U.S. athletic apparel market is the lion-shareholder in the world; dominating this segment single-handedly & contributes to as high as 42.3% of total global sales. This phenomenon is partly out of the romanticization/ratchet-up of popular/fab sporting events, fuelling expansion at a rapid pace than otherwise.

Insight Edge

The uptick in this category and how is it catching its breath is on account of a steady rise in global disposable income with discrete spending. All these factors are driving up the growth and prospects.

A significant trade insight is that” the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region will eke out gains as in the futuristic growth drivers & is predicted to be the next big thing”.

The demand environment is pretty intact the downside of covid is now limited, improving the overall business & growth prospects.

Reading the tea leaves," Recessionary global worries & multiple pressures on the world economy only comes as in a dampener as global brands are watching the unfolding situation very closely trying to pencil in the downside to the business until macro-environment stabilizes"

Sustainable products made with organic cotton, companies using recycled polyester, and low/no environment-impact, non-toxic/non-hazardous dyes, auxiliaries are the way forward for the sustainable growth of this category.

(CREDITS: Future Market Insights)

Latest Textile News

03 October 2022, Mumbai:

The WHY of the requirement for tracking and tracing in the end-of-life phase of product lifecycle management necessitates dwelling on reducing total life-cycle costs and environmental impacts the goods manufacturing inflicts. Also outlining what can be a problem-solving credible approach is expected to be remedial and corrective to the current scenario the world is in. The article also gives meaningful trade insights around cutting-edge practices topically deployed these days in product lifecycle management (PLM) in the textile field and its impact on the landscape.

The point of discussion & call of action is how to achieve ideally an integrated system spanning the entire lifecycle of design, production, distribution, and end-of-life consumer treatment of products in its entirety.

The article harps on the aspect of recycling in the textile industry and puts a spotlight on the need & vitality for the application of product lifecycle management (PLM) on the back of new emerging techniques & technologies.

Decoding PLM

The product life cycle broadly is a period through the process over which any product per se gets to develop, introduced/placed to the marketplace, and subsequently needs to be withdrawn from the market. Increasingly it has been witnessed that it is started to adopt IOTs, Algorithmic mapping as we move ahead. As per the copybook style, It typically has four pieces of this lifecycle: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline so to say.

Production

It is explainable why firms need to improve the way they manage their product development both pre & post-production. PLM systems are very handy & meaningful for (T&C) textile and apparel manufacturers as this is one customer-facing industry in the changing paradigm needing a faster turnaround while responding to evolving fashion trends. Also as a use case aligns with vendors & long global supply chains while staying lean & mean.

The narrative of Track & Traceability

The fundamental Traceability phenomenon is to integrate the value chain partners permitting tracking and tracing of articles transparently at every piece of the textile supply chain. Most simplistically stated Traceability is all about enabling mechanism to trace the whole lifecycle of an article's product lifecycle holistically starting from the base raw material to the end-consumer, entailing the waste disposal and recycling side of it. The Textile Tracer Assessment, a recent trade initiative is a detailed guide to physical tracer technologies applicable to the textile supply chain.

Light in the tunnel

There is a pressing need presently for 'Traceability and transparency' ensuring in the textile supply chain the need for achieving sustainability in the textile and fashion business enterprises.

The rationale playing out here is the grass root approach of inclusive minimalistic use of raw materials grounds up mixing/replacing it with recycled materials for holistic quality enhancement.

Let us say what will be the magic sauce to invigorate the process of making what you know Textile/Fashion as one of the worst pollution-causing industry segments bringing a viable turnaround on the back of today’s customer commitment to mindfully spending & consuming articles leaving less & less environmental-impact factor emanating out of fashion, apparel, and textile industry as a whole.

The heightened consciousness around sustainability syndrome is more a discoverability revealing that there is a palpable cut down in energy and environmental costs than ever before making a strong business case.

Considering that the global economy is in choppy waters & is hostage to the geopolitics risks and unpredictability, therefore, post-covid hindsight wisdom of the need for a sustainable lifestyle can come in as a panacea.

Latest Textile News

29 September 2022, Mumbai:

Textile Secretary U P Singh earlier this year on the heels of launching this scheme meant & curated for the labour-intensive textile and garment sector alluded," A total of 67 proposals were received under the PLI scheme for the textiles sector with an investment potential of over Rs 19,000 crore under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for textiles". The Notification for the scheme was issued on 24.09.2021.

WHY this scheme

10 Commandments

1. Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs by attracting investments and promoting startups and MSMEs.

2. Augmenting India's Textile Sector producing capabilities and harnessing exports' heft with an allocated capital outlay of Rs 10,683 crore through the next five-year period.

3. To fuel & spur the sector's growth prospects.

4. Facilitations like the center removing the import duty on cotton.

5. The textile industry is the second largest employment generator in the country, next only to agriculture thus this can be a catalytic action.

6. The sector responsible for direct and indirect employment of about 105 million people, a major part of which is women.

7. Aims to create global champions.

8. The scheme is expected to further the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and position India strongly on the global textiles map.

9. Being a part of our Hon'ble PM vision 'Panch Pran' 5Fs—farm to fibre to the factory to fashion to foreign.

10. The objective is to enable the Textile sector to accomplish size and scale and to become competitive in a missionary mode.

Stated Position

The proposed scheme comes up with a projected turnover of Rs. 184,917 crores with proposed strong job creation of 240,134 for over a dozen sectors including Textiles products like MMF apparel, MMF fabrics, and outcomes of technical textiles, man-made fibre, technical textiles, white goods, medical devices, automobiles, and auto components.

The PLI scheme for textiles covers 40 man-made fibre (MMF) garment items, 14 MMF fabric goods, and 10 technical textile products. In the bargain aspiring to take over good market share through increasing production capacity domestically for the segments such as technical textile, having a potential for an uptick in growth.

The EGoS chaired by the Cabinet Secretary will monitor the progress of this PLI scheme; undertake periodic reviews of the outgo under the Scheme; ensure uniformity with other PLIs and take appropriate action to ensure that the expenditure is within the prescribed outlay Commenting on this scheme Hon'ble Textile Minister, Piyush Goyal stated," “We have taken a number of steps to promote the growth of the technical textile sector. There has been an outstanding response for the PLI scheme".

A supportive system is a panacea

The scheme may help Indian garment manufacturers scale up operations at a time when the government is negotiating tariff concessions under FTAs with the UK and the European Union.

Further in major support to enhance the competitiveness of the sector, the government notified Complimentary schemes like the setting up of 7 PM mega integrated textiles region and apparel park (MITRA) parks in October 2021 with a total outlay of Rs. 4,445 crores.

New logistics policy 2022

The policy optimistically eyes at shrinking the logistics cost incurred up until now in India. To be fair it eyes at attaining competitive comparability to global benchmarks by 2030. This shall happen to move ahead climbing up on the rank scale seeking a target of 8% of GDP or thereabouts. It is envisaged to help India in attracting investments, and give a fillip to generate employment.

PLI-2 scheme

At the outset, we may not be able to share the specifics but as we write the sources indicate PLI 2.0 is under serious review given an unutilized budget of about Rs 4,000 crores. We are not quite up there & good bit is, as the scheme is chugging along the government is eyeing to oversee/watching this space very closely in terms of its outcomes & considerations of multi-stakeholders beginning consultations/evolving consensus around it within the industry.

To be very fair, the second production-linked incentive scheme may like to relax criteria on the options like providing certain flexibilities to investors under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the man-made fibre (MMF) besides may introduce incentives for manufacturing of home textiles articles such as blankets, provisions like a sector-specific minimum number of stitching and sewing machines too could be added.

It could allow cotton-based players to take advantage of the scheme, and drastically reduce the turnover and investment limits to enable even medium enterprises to set up units under it.

In the new scheme, the minimum investment will likely be as low as Rs 15 crores for companies to qualify for the incentives. There could be two other investment brackets, Rs 30 crores and Rs 45 crores. The annual turnovers have to be double the investment limits. However, the maximum incentive may be kept at ten per cent against 15 per cent in the earlier PLI.

Even before the pandemic struck, textile and garment exports shrank 8% in fiscal 2020. The textile and apparel/garment sector, comprising mainly medium and small units and dominated by cotton-based players, has been seeking the inclusion of cotton players, along with a reduction in high turnover and investment limits, in the PLI scheme, to benefit a wider pool of businesses.

Way forward

Looking at reports from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CITI) and international consulting firm Kearney, India's textile exports are predicted to increase by 81% to $65 billion by 2026 from the pre-Covid level of roughly $36 billion in 2019.

This growth will be supported by the global "China Plus One" sentiment that puts us in a comfort zone again as China is reversing a bit. Due to India's more deep strategic bench compared to Vietnam or Bangladesh, the article stated that a sizable portion of this targeted growth, or roughly $16 billion, may come from the China Plus One sentiment.

The latest Ruchi Sharma report on India alludes that with the benefits of hindsight where it has been bunched up with the likes of Vietnams & Indonesias of the world being in a different ship so to say, and is an island of growth and is best positioned today.

The scheme has sometimes detractors/naysayers referring that more needs to be placed on the table than what we have as of now and needs to be recast, better calibrated with the reality of the day and requires active trade promotion.

But optimists see schemes in the making as having the wherewithal/demonstrability to make industry resilient and attractive despite of COVID impact on future investments reducing over-concentration on imports and import substitutes saving vital forex. Additionally, it promises to be an economic multiplier with a high potential to generate employment vs. many other low-labour-intensive industries.

Latest Textile News