Denim industry looks to increase share of exports

Sector seeks to bring attention to policy makers on how this product can be looked at for boosting textile exports

The Indian denim industry is looking to gradually increase its share of exports from its current 35%.  Experts feel that the industry will have to increase its capacity by another 300 million metres. The sector’s current share of domestic sales is 65%.

"Historically, denim has been one of the fastest growing apparel fabric segments, having grown by 500 million metres from 700 million metres in 2010 to 1.2 billion in 2015. Yet, there is a gap of another 300 million metres in India if the denim industry needs to tap its full export potential," said P R Roy, chairman of Diagonal Consulting (India), which is organising the International Denim Conference in Ahmedabad jointly with the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) on February 19 and 20, 2016.

The conference will see major denim fabric and apparel players as well as experts from within India and abroad deliberating over the future of denim industry, especially for India.

"Exports of textiles have not done well in the last few years and denim as one of the major textile product groups could push textile exports. The conference will look to bring attention to policy makers on how this product can be looked at for boosting overall textile exports from the country," said Roy.

While India has been one of the major global suppliers of denim fabrics, the country still falls behind other competing nations in terms of denim apparel such as jeans. Also, while most of the global brands outsource denim apparel work to Indian players, much of it is meant for the domestic market and not for exports.

"The conference will look to deliberate on how Indian apparel scene can be improved so that Indian denim industry bags orders not just for domestic market but also that it becomes a global hub for branded denim apparel," Roy added.

Meanwhile, the industry is expected to touch 1.5 billion metres capacity by 2020 even as the domestic and exports ratio is set to change from 65:35 to 55:45.