HOME TEXTILES- An ELDORADO.
[ by V.Y.Tamhane *]
It is a general desire of every person to lead a life of comfort and happiness. Every person also desires that his residence should be well-appointed exuding a feeling of exuberance and satisfaction. Naturally people are by and large great choosy about home textiles.
Home textiles normally covers items like bed sheets, bed spreads, covers for comforters, bed linen, towels, napkins, furnishings, Pillow covers, wall hangings etc.
Home textiles sell on colours, designs, weaves, novelty and innovation. Since textile fashion changes fast, people are always in search of new, lovely and refreshing colour combinations, designs, weaves and novelty.
| ITEM | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |||
| Million Meters | Numbers in Million | Million Meters | Numbers in Million | Million Meters | Numbers in Million | |
| Chaddar | 343 | 153 | 358 | 159 | 373 | 166 |
| Bed sheets | 439 | 195 | 466 | 207 | 490 | 218 |
| Towels | 697 | 465 | 742 | 495 | 785 | 585 |
| Terry towels | 25 | 17 | 27 | 18 | 27 | 18 |
| Blankets | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Furnishings | 161 | N.A | 172 | N.A | 186 | N.A |
India is best suited for buying of home textiles where the order size is relatively small with vast scope for display of talent and imagination in the field of colour combination, design, weave etc. With the installation of new production and processing machinery, the international retailers count on India to supply the best wares for leading marketing chains, malls and prestigious stores.
Production.
Separate figures for all items which are classified as home textiles are not available, yet the following data give the extent of progress made by India in the realm of home textiles:
PRODUCTION
[ N.A – Not Applicable ]
Exports
Figures of export of Home Textiles are not readily available. What is available are figures of export of made-ups, which practically covers all items of Home Textile plus a few other items, which may not be classified as Home Textiles. However, the figures do give a fairly representative picture of export of home textiles.
The table below gives export of home textiles to major importing countries:
| Rank | Partner Country | Million United States Dollars | ||
| 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | ||
| World | 4463.13 | 4646.46 | 4589.09 | |
| 1 | United States | 2096.13 | 2214.14 | 2291.42 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 278.58 | 297.03 | 277.97 |
| 3 | Germany | 277.81 | 289.88 | 248.04 |
| 4 | UAE | 133.11 | 149.85 | 168.18 |
| 5 | Australia | 108.23 | 117.73 | 118.83 |
| 6 | France | 117.43 | 120.56 | 112.20 |
| 7 | Canada | 111.62 | 110.89 | 108.89 |
| 8 | Italy | 94.08 | 110.11 | 108.62 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 111.29 | 112.93 | 100.54 |
| 10 | Spain | 73.67 | 85.64 | 91.95 |
| 11 | Sweden | 57.30 | 69.65 | 55.01 |
| 12 | Belgium | 45.80 | 70.18 | 50.86 |
| 13 | Japan | 57.32 | 56.75 | 48.87 |
| 14 | South Africa | 45.02 | 37.78 | 46.12 |
| 15 | Denmark | 38.55 | 43.71 | 38.15 |
| 16 | Other countries | 817.19 | 759.63 | 723.44 |
Source: GTA/Ministry of Commerce
Export performance in 2015-16 was marginally down by 1.2 per cent over 2014-15. It is largely because of sombre global situation and the performance should not be looked down upon. In fact, it is much better compared to export of textiles and nothing.
Of the 15 destinations, 10 have reported a decline ranging from 1 per cent to 14 per cent. Destinations which reported increase in exports were the USA, Australia, Spain, South Africa and UAE. If efforts are made to recapture international markets at least to the level which is the best in any one of the three years of 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16, it is possible to exceed the US $ 5 billion mark and even more if growth is recorded over the best exporting year in the three years of 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.
From the present reckoning, it appears that India will retain its dominance in home textiles for a long time to come.
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[ * These are the personal views of the author ]
