The Indian textile industry contributes about 14 per cent to industrial production, 4 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 17 per cent to the country’s export earnings, according to the Annual Report 2009-10 of the Ministry of Textiles.

It provides direct employment to over 35 million people and is the second largest provider of employment after agriculture.

According to the Ministry of Textiles, the cumulative production of cloth during April’09-March’10 has increased by 8.3 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Moreover, total textile exports have increased to US$ 18.6 billion during April’09-January’10, from US$ 17.7 billion during the corresponding period of the previous year, registering an increase of 4.95 per cent in rupee terms. Further, the share of textile exports in total exports has increased to 12.36 per cent during April’09-January’10, according to the Ministry of Textiles.

As per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), cotton textiles has registered a growth of 5.5 per cent during April-March 2009-10, while wool, silk and man-made fibre textiles have registered a growth of 8.2 per cent while textile products including wearing apparel have registered a growth of 8.5 per cent.

Technical Textile Segment

According to the Ministry of Textiles, technical textiles are an important part of the textile industry. The Working Group for the Eleventh Five Year Plan has estimated the market size of technical textiles to increase from US$ 5.29 billion in 2006-07 to US$ 10.6 billion in 2011-12, without any regulatory framework and to US$ 15.16 billion with regulatory framework. The Scheme for Growth and Development of Technical Textiles aims to promote indigenous manufacture of technical textile to leverage global opportunities and cater to the domestic demand.

Government Initiative

According to the Ministry of Textiles, investment under the Technology Upgradation Fund Schemes (TUFS) has been increasing steadily. During the year 2009-10, 1896 applications have been sanctioned at a project cost of US$ 5.23 billion. The cumulative progress as on December 31, 2009, includes 27,477 applications sanctioned, which has triggered investment of US$ 45.5 billion and amount sanctioned under TUFS is US$ 18.9 billion of which US$ 16.4 billion has been disbursed so far till the end of April, 2010.

Moreover, in May 2010, the Ministry of Textiles informed a parliamentary panel that it proposes to allocate US$ 785.2 million for the modernisation of the textile industry.

The Scheme for Integrated Textile Park (SITP) was approved in July 2005 to facilitate setting up of textiles parks with world class infrastructure facilities. 40 textiles park projects have been sanctioned under the SITP. According to the Minister of State for Textiles, Panabaaka Lakshmi, under the SITP, a cumulative expenditure of US$ 204.3 million has been incurred against allocation of US$ 220.7 million in the last three years.