Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates AEPC’s Virtual Platform
03 February 2021: Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu unveiled the Virtual Platform of the Apparel Products of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) on 21st January, 2021. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Textile, Dr A. Sakthivel, Chairman-AEPC, garment exporters and industry leaders were among the dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Noting that the share of India in global textile exports was just 6%, Venkaiah Naidu suggested for upskilling the textile and apparel workers. He said that though India has a strong base of raw material and manpower, the country is lagging in global fabric exports because of the small size of average firms and the use of outdated technology.
India’s textile sector is the second-largest employer and provides direct employment to about 45 million people. It is also a very important foreign exchange earning industry for India, contributing to about 12% in our export earnings. Naidu said that India should target to achieve double-digit share in global textile exports for this he advised that Textile manufacturers must scale up and innovate. He reiterated the importance of textile sector to economy and to women employment generation. “Women are 50% of India’s talent pool and the textile sector’s expansion could have positive outcomes for women’s education and total fertility rate too.”
The Vice President also called upon the textile entrepreneurs to diversify their manufacturing portfolio to suit the changing global demands and tap newer markets. He further noted the importance of branding in adding value to apparel products and advised the entrepreneurs to work on brand-building.
He pointed out that the Indian Textile industry is the 2nd largest employer, providing direct employment to about 45 million people. This is next only to the agricultural sector. Apparel sector itself, a segment within textiles, provides employment to about 12.9 million people. Also, most of the people working in this industry are women workers. “As such the apparel industry is also a very important foreign exchange earning industry for India. The domestic textile and apparel industry contributes 2.3% to India’s GDP, 7% to the country’s manufacturing production and 12% in export earnings.”
He continued “Countries like China and Bangladesh are the biggest buyers of Indian yarn. They add value to it and sell the fabrics and apparels at a lower cost compared to India. China’s share of 51% in cotton fabrics is very high, compared to India’s 5%-6%. This situation largely arises out of the unorganized and dispersed nature of the weaving sector in India.”
Naidu concluded: “The bottom line is this: Unless the average size of the apparels firm grows, adopts latest technologies and possesses skilled manpower, we cannot manufacture quality items and export at competitive prices. Only this way, we can exploit the full employment and economic potential of the industry. One of the proposed projects of the NITI Aayog this year is to work with the textile ministry to set up mega textile firms to boost our exports in both fabric and garment sectors.”
