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The textile industry, especially fibre makers are bullish about achieving the target under the National Fibre Policy. With an impetus from the central government's TUF scheme and as part of the upcoming National Fibre Policy, the textile industry is estimated to investment roughly Rs 1.8 lakh crore for the ten year period of FY '10 - FY '20.
According to industry players, the investments will look to create required capacity along the textile value chain on the basis of estimate of the increased fibre production. The textile industry players are planning an enhance fibre capacity in the wake of the government setting an estimate of Rs 1.88 lakh crore investment under the National Fibre Policy.
While cotton and polyester are the major raw materials for India's textile industry, the other types of fibre include viscose, cellulose, PET and nylon, among others.
However, cotton and polyester together account for around 90 per cent of India's textile mill consumption of all fibres.
"The target is pretty realistic and we are bullish of achieving it as an industry. The reason primarily being that export orders are shifting from China and other countries for fibre to India. There might be some gap in time but the investment target should be achieved," said Makrand Appalwar, chief executive officer of Emmbi Polyarns Ltd.
However, according to Appalwar, it would be man-made fibre led by polyester and PET that would grow more than natural fibre.
"Natural fibre cannot grow as much as man-made due to cultivation and other issues. Even in man-made, after polyester, it the recycled PET which is set to grow most since it has a high tenacity, user friendly and easy to process," he added.
According to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)'s latest annual report, India's per capita fibre consumption is around 5 kg, almost half the global level. Polyester is likely to play a dominant role in capturing the major incremental demand share to bridge this gap.
As per the report, global textile fibre industry is expected to grow 24 MMT by 2020 to 105 MMT. "Of this polyester will account for over 68 per cent of global demand growth. India is poised to strengthen its global foothold with polyester production share rising to 10 per cent of global volume from the current 8 per cent," it stated. RIL is the world's largest polyester fibre and yarn producer with a capacity of around 2.4 MMT across nine sites in India and Malaysia.
While the domestic textile and apparel industry is expected to grow to roughly $ 140 billion (approximately Rs 7.60 lakh crore) by 2021, the key growth segments are technical textiles which is likely to see a 10 per cent CAGR, followed by 9 per cent in apparels and 8 per cent in home textiles, as per RIL's annual report.
Seconding it is SS Iyer, president of Zenith Fibres Limited.
"Technical textiles is definitely the front runner for fibre growth in the country. However, currently it is more dependent on polyester while globally other countries are major users of polypropylene. We hope to see the latter grow more in the Indian textile industry, especially in geo-textiles. The National Fibre Policy will of course boost growth of fibre," said Iyer.
As an ingredient, the polypropylene staple fibre is used extensively in filter grade fabrics, floor and automobile carpets, geotextiles, knitted materials, thermal- bonded fabrics, hygiene products, and construction industry.
The company recently expanded its polypropylene staple fibre (PPSF) manufacturing capacity from 3000 tonnes per annum to 6000 tonnes per annum at its Vadodara plant.
