The Textile Sector Can Potentially Become an INR 20 Lakh Cr Sector in Five Years: Piyush Goyal

Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal, showed some glimpses of government's planning to support textile product exports and ensure the inclusion of sustainable technology. During an event in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the government is planning to create 75 textile hubs like Tiruppur, in future, to generate huge employment opportunities.

According to the minister, the sector employs over 10 lakh people, in which six lakh people are engaged in direct roles, while four lakh are indrectly employed. He said, in 1985,  Tiruppur was exporting INR 15 Cr worth of textile products. In the financial year 2022, the estimated exports from Tiruppur were somewhere around INR 30,000 Cr, which means the sector has seen a growth of over two thousand times. Considering this unparalleled growth, in a span of fewer than four decades, the compounded annual growth rate at Tiruppur comes to 22.87 per cent.

Minister asserted that Tiruppur has immense employment options while saying that youngsters should look out and grab the opportunities. He mentioned that, in current times, there is a huge contribution of women and those from the marginalised sections which account for nearly 70 per cent of the textile sector of Tiruppur.

Goyal pointed out the significance of the textile sector of India saying textiles is the second largest provider of work after agriculture. The industry size is about INR 10 lakh Cr and out of which INR 3.5 lack crore comes from the export. All over India, roughly three and a half to four crore people are engaged in the total value chain of the Textile sector alone. He said that the Textile sector has the potential to grow into an INR 20 lakh Cr industry in the next 5 years with exports of ?10 lakh Cr. Even then, a modest export target of 7.5-8 lakh Cr and a production target of about 20 lakh crore which is doable in the next 5 years have been set.

Goyal said that if India grows at eight per cent every year on a Compounded Annual Growth basis, the economy will double in about nine years to be a USD 6.5 trillion economy. 18 years from now, the economy of India predicted to be USD 13 trillion. In 27 years from now, the economic growth can be calculated as USD 26 trillion and hence after 30 years, it can said that India will be a USD 30 trillion economy.

Tiruppur, or the Knit City, is a centre for cotton markets and cotton ginning factories. The town has been welcoming buyers from at least 35 countries due to its performance in technology and the quality of its macroeconomic environment. Tiruppur contributes to almost 90 per cent of total cotton knitwear exports from India.

Special Industrial Parks have been developed to support the textile industry. Netaji Apparel Park (NAP), Tiruppur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex and Small Industry Development Corporation Industrial Estate are a few that are operational. Netaji Apparel Park has 53 companies manufacturing knitwear for exports. The NAP presently provides employment to 15,000 people and generates export revenue of INR 15 billion from the apparel produced in it. Tirupur Export Knitwear Industrial Complex was established in 1992 and has 189 sheds built over a 4200 square feet area.

Piyush Goyal participated in the Exporter’s Meet cum Felicitation Function at Tiruppur. He had an interactive meeting with representatives of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) and Apparel Export promotion Council (AEPC).  Dr. A Sakthivel, President, FIEO, Shri Sudhir Sekhri, Vice Chairman, AEPC, and more than 350 exporters from Engineering, Agriculture and Process Food, Textiles, Yarn sectors form neighbouring cities also participated in the program.