The Hindu Business Line : `A golden period ahead for textile industry'

FOLLOWING the removal of quantitative restrictions in textile trade from January, some of the major challenges for exporters worldwide will be managing free trade, being cost competitive and managing the value chain effectively.

This would spur consolidation of export activities in top exporting nations, according to Mr Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director, Reliance Industries Ltd.

Mr Meswani, speaking at the International Textiles and Apparel Congress 2005 here, said that the Indian textiles industry today faced a number of challenges — managing free trade, becoming cost competitive and manufacturing products at affordable process — to figure in the list of top exporters.

He added that thus far quota regime had harmed importing countries and removing the system would only benefit customers in the long run.

He added that Indian manufacturers needed to explore the possibility of making garments for a dollar because there was 2.5 billion-strong market in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Russia to cater to.

These economies, he said, required affordable durable clothing at rock-bottom prices and represented a segment Indian players could capitalise if they could reduce the cost of production.

He added that there was a golden period ahead for the Indian textile industry, which was set to be $100 billion in size in 2010.

The industry, he said, was expected to attract $25 billion in investments in the next three years, and would result in employment of 12 million people by 2010.

He added that for such economies as Sri Lanka and Thailand, which had to rely on imports to produce finished goods, Mr Meswani said that complementary partnership agreements with other nations could lead to faster growth for all those concerned.

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