Textile industry to become low margin in future: CMAI

In a webinar on ‘Rebooting Textile Industry, Rahul Mehta, Chief Mentor, CMAI, said, the ongoing lockdown has severely hit the textile industry which is likely to become a low margin industry with smaller players struggling to survive.

With around 80 percent of the garment industry mostly micro, small and medium enterprises, CMAI, said most of its members do not have the kind of reserves to see them through 3-6 months of this magnitude.

Mehta said CMAI had done a survey among its members and analyzed around 1,500 responses and the responses were quite frightening.

According to the survey, almost 20 percent of them said that they were thinking of closing down the business after lockdown. At least 60 percent of them anticipated a drop in revenue to the tune of 40 percent, which is massive, if you look in terms of number of employment.

Going ahead, Mehta feels, customers will move from unbranded to branded clothing further impacting the smaller players. If the garment industry closes down, it would impact the entire value chain from fabric supply industry to brand to the zipper and label industry, Mehta said.