The Hindu Business Line : ‘India’s non-woven sector to grow at 13.3%’

The study ‘India Rising: Opportunities in non-wovens and technical textiles’ has found a correlation between the growth in per capita consumption of non-wovens and the rise in per capita income levels in the economy.

G. Gurumurthy

Coimbatore, June 5 The rising number of middle class people in India, armed with higher disposable income, will drive the country’s nascent non-woven/technical textiles market into a money spinner over the next two decades, according to a study conducted by the researchers from the US-based Texas Tech University.

The 300 million middle-class population, a third below 25, is predicted to spearhead the non-woven textiles’ demand growth and lift the country’s per capita consumption from the present 80 grams to 3-3.5 kg, similar to that of the US and European nations, between now and the year 2035.

Household incomes

The active growth agents are the rise in household incomes seen since the 1991 economic liberalisation resulting in consistent 5 per cent annual consumer spending growth and the ongoing growth in organised retail biz.

The study report ‘India Rising: Opportunities in non-wovens and technical textiles’ has found a correlation between the growth in per capita consumption of non-wovens and the rise in per capita income levels in the economy with the growth rate of one seen running in tandem with the other.

The study penned by Dr Seshadri Ramkumar, an expert in non woven technology and faculty at the University’s non-woven and advanced materials laboratory along with Dr Appachi Arunachalam, a scholar from India, has made use of the base-line figures of World Bank on income estimates and gross domestic product growth data in working out the non woven/technical textiles potential for the next four decade between 2007 and 2050.

World Bank data

The report, taking the World Bank data on per capita GDP for the US and the India for the 2007 at $45,817 and $946.1 respectively with the average growth of their economies at 4.6 per cent and 13.27 per cent, has set the per capita consumption of non-woven textiles at 3.5 kg and 80 grams respectively.

The report has estimated the annual consumption of India’s non-wovens/technical textiles to grow at an average 13.3 per cent to achieve the threshold level of 3.5 kg by 2035. Whereas, the consumption growth of non-wovens in the US would remain slow at 5-6 per cent level. India’s demand in technical textiles is projected to grow exponentially beyond 2035 and till 2050 when – with a per capita income level reaching $2,00,850 – its consumption level will touch 21.4 kg.

The investment momentum for India’s non-woven/technical textiles would, according to the study, gain strength in the compulsion on the part of the industry to shift away from commodity/conventional textiles which faced competition from low cost skilled nations, lower value realisation and look for opportunity beyond ‘fibre-to-fashion’.

Govt support

The Indian Government is to extend support to tap potential from untapped segments of textile industry.

The 11th Plan document has provided for creation of technology mission on non-wovens/technical textiles with a budget of $170 million.

This together with the upfront capital subsidy allowed under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme which is also being extended to technical textile projects will trigger investment towards technical textiles projects. .

More Stories on : Textiles

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page