Trade with Nepal affecting Ludhiana

India can give a tough fight to China in textile trade, especially in value-added cotton textiles, for its expertise in heritage embroidery and handloom after the lifting of quota restrictions from this year, according to Munish Tyagi, a cotton and textile expert.

Commenting on the pitfalls of the Indo-Nepal treaty, he said the treaty had hurt the acrylic fibre industry of Ludhiana because of the routing of Indonesian and Thailand products via Nepal.

Speaking about the crafts that were on the brink of disaster due to excessive commercialisation, he said middlemen were exploiting artisans.

"There is a need to bring artisans into direct contact with the customers by eradicating intermediaries," he said.

Tyagi, who is associated with various UNDP projects on the textile industry, said there was no need to be afraid of China, which had set up a huge infrastructure in the textile sector over the past decade.

"In fact, India has an edge in value-added cotton textiles because of its good artisans and its proficiency in heritage embroidery, which is in great demand overseas," he added.

China, according to a recent study, was set to become the leader by capturing about a 50 per cent share of $600 billion textile trade worldwide, followed by India, which would raise its share to 8-10 per cent from its present 3 per cent in the next couple of years, he claimed.