Apparel segment may touch Rs 20-22 lakh cr: IRIS

Of the Rs 12 lakh crore apparel market, ethnic wear will continue to enjoy the majority share, IRIS Managing Director Vivek Kumar told PTI on the sidelines of Pure & Play Retail Summit here.     

"Women's and kids' wear comprise a huge portion of the retail apparel market in India and the women's wear in itself is a Rs 42,600 crore segment," Kumar said.     

Studies conducted by IRIS on the Indian retail market shows that the western wear segment of Rs 2,400 crore, which is 12 per cent of the total women's wear market, and is growing at an exponential rate of 16-20 per cent a year.     

"While ethnic wear is declining at around 1-2 per cent a year, increase in over-all size of the market will compensate for the decline in percentage, as the size of the total pie will keep on increasing," Kumar said.     

He said, "the middle class population in India will reach 41 per cent of total population by 2025 and this will contribute for the growth of western wear segment as well as the entire apparel retail segment in India.     

In Tier 2 and smaller cities, the growth of the apparel market is quite high and will reach 60 per cent per annum very soon, he added.