Diversification into Technical Textiles: A Forward Momentum for Indian Textiles Industry

Abstract

Historically, the Indian textiles and clothing industry has comparative advantage in production and exports which could not be fully utilized because of quantitative restrictions imposed by her major export markets such as USA and European Union. It was therefore, envisaged that with the implementation of WTO’s agreement on textile and clothing (ATC) in 2005 the country would become more successful in global markets. Although in the initial two years of phasing out of quotas, the industry performed better, but the gains could not be sustained. Global recession further added to the crisis and industry is still struggling to come out of the turbulent times. In such a scenario, rigorous product diversification into technical textiles can take the industry to new heights. Demand of technical textiles is tremendous and growing steadily and it is the right time to enter this segment to convert the opportunities into realties. In this background the paper first underscores the turbulent times for Indian textiles industry and then suggests the industry specific actions to be taken. It then defines the technical textiles in its historical perspective, and emphasize upon the diversification into technical textiles to get a forward momentum for sustainable recovery and lists out the international and domestic opportunities that can be grabbed by the entrepreneurs in the area of technical textiles.

Keywords: Technical Textiles, Product Diversification, Quota Free Regime, Multifibre Arrangements, Global Slowdown, Recession to Recovery, Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS)

JEL Classification: F1, F2, F4, L1, L2, L67, O3