India, a leading global player in the home textile space, is poised to strengthen its position with an over three fold jump expected in exports by 2010, global financial services major Citigroup said.
Country's home textile exports are forecasted to rise to $10 billion by 2010 from $3 billion in 2005, on the back of self-sufficiency in cotton and recent acquisitions and tie-ups with global brands, Citigroup Global Market India said in its equity research report.
Despite prospects of excess capacity and cost pressures amidst cut-throat competition, bed linen exports to the US by three Asian countries - China, India and Pakistan -- continue to dominate with a 76 per cent share of the total.
The US and European Union together accounted for 70 per cent of the world's $70 billion imports for home textiles. The US alone imports bed linen worth $24 billion, the Citigroup report said.
With China cornering 38 per cent share, it is the largest exporter of home furnishings to the US, Pakistan comes next with 22 per cent while India accounts for 16 per cent share.
The rest 24 per cent exports to the US are shared by Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Italy and other numerous countries.
The sector is set to grow due to the high growth drivers like focus on value addition through innovative designing, strategic partnerships with global brands and better supply chain management, the report said.
Key trends in the post-quota regime have helped the Asian trio to increase their share as global retailers stepped up outsourcing to cut costs.
Citigroup believes that growth in Asian nations would be triggered through consolidation and rationalization of outsourcing countries and vendors.
The Indian textile industry -- garment and home furnishing -- is one of the largest and most important sectors in the economy in terms of output, foreign exchange earnings and employment in India.
It contributes 20 per cent of industrial production, 9 per cent of excise collections, 18 per cent of employment in the industrial sector, nearly 20 per cent to the country's total export earnings and 4 per cent to the GDP.
The country commands a natural competitive advantage in terms of a strong and large multi-fibre base, abundant cheap skilled labour and presence across the entire value chain of the industry ranging from spinning, weaving and made-ups to manufacturers of garments.
India's textile industry comprises mostly small-scale, non-integrated spinning, weaving, finishing and apparel-making enterprises.
During 2004-05, production of fabrics touched a peak of 45,378 million square metres. In the year 2005-06 up to November, production of fabrics registered a further growth of 9 per cent against the corresponding period last year.
Textile exports during April-November 2005 were at $9,309.81 million, up 8.21 per cent from $8,603.33 million during the corresponding period last year.
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