CMR News Desk
Textiles Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh on Tuesday suggested that the Indian apparel industry must focus on vertical integration to increase its scale and size and to benefit from the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
Speaking at the 44th Foundation Day of Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Mr Singh said, “I understand apparel and garmenting is not very investment centric but it is very important from an employment point of view. Perhaps, there is a need for backward integration and more of you can get into integrated value-chain like spinning and weaving.”
Virtually addressing the Foundation Day, the Textiles Secretary said that along with the PLI scheme, the government is committed to make the Prime Minister Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) scheme a success. Idea is not to just have a world class infrastructure but also a thriving industry there, he said.
Stating that textile has always been among the top priorities of the government, he said, “There are a lot of big opportunities. The demand continues to be robust and the China plus one sourcing strategy by the west is certainly a great opportunity for us.”
Mr Singh said that it all depended on how good, efficient and integrated the Indian apparel industry is and how it increases its size and scale. “AEPC has a big role to play. Let us not get into just the macro figure, let us get into the micro level. Let us go product by product and country by country,” he said.
“We should be in a position to breach $20 billion apparel exports by next fiscal or the year after that,” Mr Singh said, adding that the country’s textile exports can increase from the current $40 billion to $100 billion in the next five years. Ms Shubhra, Trade Adviser in the Ministry of Textiles, also attended the Foundation Day.
Apparel exporters’ body AEPC, few days before, said it is looking at new markets such as Latin America, Australia and Israel to push the country’s exports, which are expected to record healthy growth during the current fiscal and in 2022-23, even though rising raw material prices are impacting the industry.
AEPC (Apparel Export Promotion Council) Chairman Narendra Goenka said the Council is also engaging actively with Indian missions abroad to explore export opportunities for the sector.
“We are looking at new markets. Huge export potential is there for us. We are expecting to touch about USD 16.5 billion worth of exports in 2021-22 and USD 19 billion in 2022-23. We are on the cusp of good growth in apparel. We are also trying to create a brand India image for sustainable growth,” he told PTI.
