According to Clothing Manufacturers Association of India’s (CMAI) industry growth index, the apparel industry has grown by five per cent in the quarter ended in December 2014. The five per cent surge is lower than the country’s GDP. The fall in performance has been attributed to poor performance of smaller entities, as weak consumer sentiment resulted in huge inventories, even double the sales in many cases, said CMAI. Simultaneously, CMAI has also released the results of a survey which states that apparel manufacturers have realized the need to invest to grow their businesses, which also shows their confidence in the market. 78 per cent of the respondents surveyed have increased their investment for improving their scale of operation. Part of these is also used to build inventories before the season to scale-up sales. Nearly 85 per cent of big brands and 67.5 per cent of small brands increased their investments by 1 per cent to 20 per cent.
