The Indian denim industry is looking forward to a boost in its exports from its current share of 35 per cent. Experts are of the opinion that the Indian denim industry has the capacity to grow and increase its exports.
Currently, the sector’s share of domestic sales is 65 per cent, while according to P R Roy, Chairman of Diagonal Consulting (India), “Historically, denim has been one of the fastest-growing apparel fabric segments, having grown by 500 million metres from 700 million metres in 2010 to 1.2 billion in 2015. Yet, there is a gap of another 300 million metres in India, if the denim industry needs to tap its full export potential.”
The denim sector in India seeks to draw the attention of policy makers on how denim can efficiently contribute to India’s textile exports, if proper attention is paid to this sector. In this regard, the Diagonal Consulting firm, jointly with the Confederation of Indian TextileIndustry (CITI), is organising the International Denim Conference in Ahmedabad on February 19 and 20. The conference aims at deliberating over the future of denim industry and is expected to see major denim fabric and apparel players as well as experts from India and abroad alike.
“Exports of textiles have not done well in the past few years, and denim as one of the major textile product groups could push textile exports. The conference will look to bringing the attention to policy makers on how this product can be looked at for boosting overall textile exports from the country,” Roy added.
Although, India has been one of the major global suppliers of denim fabrics, the country still falls behind other competing nations in terms of denim apparel such as jeans. Meanwhile, the industry is expected to touch 1.5 billion metres capacity by 2020.
