India’s technical textile market was valued at $14 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $23.3 billion by 2027, growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 per cent, which is among the fastest growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a report called ‘Technical Textiles: Emerging Opportunities and Investments’ released by KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) recently.
The future market growth in India will be due to numerous factors like developing end-user sectors, rising awareness, government initiatives, regulations, standardisations and technology upgradation, the report says.
The markets in the country for synthetic polymer and wovens were valued at $7.1 billion and $9.5 billion respectively in 2020 and are projected to reach $11.6 billion and $15.7 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.
The market in India for automotive textiles was valued at $2.4 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $3.7 billion by 2027. The market for industrial textiles was worth $2.0 billion in 2020 and is estimated to reach $3.3 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 8 per cent.
Between fiscals 2014-15 and 2019-20, India’s technical textile exports grew at 0.9 per cent CAGR, whereas imports grew at 4.3 per cent CAGR. India is depending on imports for high-value technical textiles products. There are six product categories in exports with impressive double digit CAGR over the last six years.
An analysis of Indian technical textiles export for the same period indicates that the packaging textiles sector contributes 36 per cent (primarily flexible intermediate bulk container), followed by industrial textiles at 21.5 per cent, automotive textiles at 10.3 per cent and home textiles (carpets) at 6.4 per cent.
In the same period, import data indicates that industrial textiles (coated fabrics) accounted for 29.3 per cent of total imports, followed by automotive textile products (airbags and tyre cords primarily) at 28.2 per cent, home textiles at 16.2 per cent and clothing textiles at 13.2 per cent.
Technical Textiles industry infrastructure in India predominantly focuses on low value commodity products like bags and sacks under basic non-wovens as indicated by the highest market share of 36 per cent for the packaging textiles segment.
Other industrial countries like China, Korea and Taiwan focus on high-value medical textiles, industrial textiles and protective textiles segments. At the global level, categories like automotive textiles, industrial textiles, sports textiles and building textiles are considered most lucrative segments.
Products in automotive textiles, industrial textiles and specialty fibres are currently being extensively imported into India. Import substitution through favorable policies would help the growth of these segments and ensure value retention within the economy and new skilled employment opportunities for Indian youth, the report says.
Institutionalisation of technical textiles across ministries will help in introducing technical textile products across projects. The regulatory and promotional mechanism and incentives delivery medium needs to be developed for introduction and promotion of specific technical textile products relevant to various ministries, the report adds.