| | OCTOBER 20228INDUSTRY INSIGHTSWEAVING SUSTAINABILITY INTO THE DNA OF TEXTILE INDUSTRYBy K.K. Lalpuria, Executive Director & CEO, Indo Count IndustriesTHE DOMESTIC TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN INDIA CONTRIBUTES FIVE PER-CENT TO THE COUNTRY'S GDP, SEVEN PERCENT OF INDUSTRY OUTPUT IN VALUE TERMS, AND 12 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY'S EXPORT EARN-INGS. HOW IS THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY OF INDIA DEVELOPING?Textile has been a core industry of India, with the market expected to be worth more than $209 billion by 2029. Look-ing at the global scenario, there are five countries -- Ban-gladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Vietnam, that dominate the global textile market. However, with Bangladesh and Vietnam lacking the domestic production of raw material, and the global companies looking forward to instituting the China plus one strategy. The overall scenario holds great potential for the Indian textile industry to evolve as a global leader.Moreover, along with the established spinning and weav-ing base, India has now remarkably expanded the domestic production of raw materials, such as cotton. Furthermore, the huge domestic consumer base of India has helped the industry to constantly evolve in terms of quality.Today, the government is also bringing in multiple schemes that are ex-pected to give the industry additional impetus. With all the factors working in tandem, the Indian textile industry will further its share in the global market.UNLIKE IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, TEXTILE FACTORIES IN INDIA ARE NOT FULLY AUTOMATED AND REMAIN LABOUR-INTENSIVE. HOW DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY DEVELOPING IN TERMS OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION?The Indian textile industry is now massively investing in au-tomation and digitization that it deems necessary to improve productivity and competitiveness. Hence, starting with spin-ning, weaving, dyeing and finishing, we see advanced, state-of-the-art machinery already being deployed to increase operational efficiency. Today, machineries like laser-cutting machines, Eaton systems, automatic packaging and folding systems, conveyor belts, and more are increasingly deployed by the manufacturers.That being said, the textile industry needs to harness the potential of the IT industry of India, and move towards data driven operations. Applications like ERP's needs to be implemented at a larger form to optimise the operations and take faster decisions.From the manu-facturing perspective, the cotton sewing process has been a pain point with a dearth of automation. Hence, in order toK. K. Lalpuria,Executive Director & CEOIn an interaction with Industry Outlook, shares his insights on present state and future opportunities for the Indian textile industry. During the conversation he also discusses the issues pertaining to sustainability, lead time, automation and more.
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