From April to August 2023, India imported dyed knitted fabrics valued at US $ 276 million (Rs. 2,270 crore) predominantly from China. The continuing increase in import of dyed knitted fabrics, is a matter of concern for Tamil Nadu’s textile industry as the state is the biggest hub for the variety of knitted fabrics.
Prabhu Dhamodharan, Convenor of Coimbatore-based Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) says that the influx of dyed knitted fabrics directly impacts various sub-sectors within Tamil Nadu’s textile manufacturing industry, including spinning, knitting, and processing.
The clusters like Coimbatore, Tirupur, Dindigul, Erode, Salem have a huge enough production capacity in Tamil Nadu. Various stakeholders like mills, process houses, jobworkers of knitting, dyeing, printing get business in these hubs.
A preliminary study has shown that a majority of the imports are facilitated through traders who, in turn, distribute the fabric to domestic garment manufacturers in key hubs such as Coimbatore and Tirupur.
According to Prabhu, the retail selling price of these dyed fabrics fluctuates between Rs. 320 and Rs. 350 per kg in the domestic garment market. Given the 20 per cent import duty, the landed cost of the fabrics is concerning. Manufacturing at such price points appears untenable in any part of the world.
He said that “It is imperative that we scrutinise the materials used and ensure the imports are valued correctly, avoiding potential malpractices like under-invoicing or mislabelling with different materials and HS codes.”
