Dyestuff Industry Targets $2bn Exports

Domestic dyestuff makers hope to capture a 10 per cent share by the year 2005. The industry has set an export target of $2 billion for the period, Ravindra Shah, president of the Dyestuff Manufacturers' Association of India (DMAI), said at the golden jubilee celebrations of the organisation.

He said, despite a slow-down in the industry's growth rate in the past few years, the association expects to maintain its 2 per cent current growth in 2000-1. India's share in the world dyestuff market is currently 4.5 per cent.

Shah said the domestic dyes industry has come a full circle since it started manufacturing dyes in 1951 with imported dye intermediates. Production of intermediaries began in 1965 and India now exports dyestuffs to the countries on which it was dependent a few years back for intermediates.

The industry has also emerged as an important net foreign exchange earner and has been identified as a thrust area for increasing exports.

During 1999-2000, India's dyestuff exports reached $500 million (Rs 2,200 crore) from the over 1000 dyestuff units spread across the country.