India is receiving huge orders for fashion masks from all across the world; however, the manufacturers are not able to cater to those orders in view of mask export ban enforced by the Indian Government.
Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Coimbatore has appealed the Government to lift the ban from exporting the non-surgical masks as the member companies of ITF have immediate non-surgical masks’ order inquiries worth Rs. 300 crore.
“Because of COVID-19, the world’s population has started wearing masks but these are not surgical masks. So, the apparel buyers of our member companies are now asking to place orders for fashion masks also, made out of knitted and woven fabrics,” told Prabhu Dhamodharan, Head, Indian Texpreneurs Federation to Apparel Resources.
The orders are coming from major markets such as USA, UK, EU and UAE along with other countries. However, the factories get in touch with buyers only till pricing stage, but nobody has been going ahead to book orders because of the ban.
He further informed that ITF and the other associations have appealed to the Commerce Ministry of India and got to know that one of their prime concerns is the possible shortage of masks for the domestic market if export ban is lifted now.
However, convincing the Ministry, ITF has strongly emphasised on the fact that India has so many clusters including Tirupur and Coimbatore which are producing masks right now. As no specialised fabric and technology is required to produce these non-surgical masks, the shortage of masks won’t be an issue for the domestic market.
“Even if 100 crore masks are needed, we can manufacture them in less than a month’s time,” shared Prabhu.
The business of masks coming from overseas market is not just one time opportunity for the Indian textile sector, but it is estimated that the country will get recurring orders.
Prabhu predicted that in around a month’s time, the order value for fashion masks will touch nearly Rs. 4,000 crore.
ITF is confident that Commerce Ministry will come up with a solution in not more than a week’s time. “As they also want to support the industries, need revenues and generate employment, they are actively involved in the thinking process. We are sure the way they are proactively involved with the representatives of different textile organisations, a positive decision on export ban lifting might soon roll out,” concluded Prabhu.
It’s worth mentioning here that 510 textile manufacturers are associated with ITF which represent the entire value chain right from integrated suppliers, standalone spinners and weavers. In apparel segment, ITF has 110 members associated with it.
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