A study by MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai reveals that India has untapped export potential in 13 handloom and other textile products to the extent of 83% of world export market. Some of these products are toilet linen, kitchen linen, carpets, bedlinen, floorcloths and other interior furnishing articles, gloves, shawls, scarves and terry towel. While the cumulative world market (as denoted by world imports or exports) for these 13 products is USD 20.18 billion, India’s exports is hardly USD 3.4 billion or 17% of world market. This signifies that India has still 83% untapped export potential in these goods. India has global competitive advantage in many of these products as it figures among the top three exporters in toilet linen, carpets, articles of interior furnishings, shawls and bedspreads.
In some items such as articles of interior furnishings and bedspreads, India meets around 70% of world import demand. India fulfills around 20% of world demand for carpets, toilet linen and kitchen linen. However, in most other products, India hardly meets 2-5% of world demand, signifying considerable untapped export potential. Major importers of these products are USA and European countries such as Germany, UK and France.
USA, Japan, Germany , UK and France are the leading importers of toilet linen, where India’s total exports is USD 1 billion compared to the world import of USD 5.4 billion. In case of carpets (HS Code 570242 and HS code 570500), India’s exports is hardly USD 338 million or 8% of USD 4.06 billion of world imports. Major importing nations of carpets are USA, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany and France. Similarly, India’s share in world exports is less in case floor cloths, gloves, mittens & mitts. The following table provides India’s exports, world market and top seven importers and exporters of these 13 products for 2019.
Speaking about the scope for export of these textile products, Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai said, “India has competitive advantage in these 13 textile products as is reflected in our share in world exports. While India accounts for hardly 1.7% of world merchandise exports, our share in global exports of these 13 products is 17%. We can further enhance our export performance by creating awareness about export opportunities among our textile manufacturers.”
Trade promotion can be a key driver of exports of India’s handloom products in the global market. Industry associations and trade support institutions should hold virtual buyer-seller meet, virtual exhibitions and promote our products on e-commerce platforms.
Further, there is a need for guiding handloom weavers about the procedures for exports. According to the Fourth Handloom Census (released in 2019), around 52% of handloom weaver households mentioned that they need training in marketing, packaging, market information and export procedures. The survey also reveals that exports account for hardly 0.4% of total sales of handloom weaver households. They sell around 64% of their goods in the local market, 17% to master weavers, 8.8% to co-operative society and 1.0% in organised trade fairs. Exports and sales through e-commerce account for respectively 0.4% and 0.2% of their overall sales, suggesting that exports is still an untapped avenue for handloom weavers.
In order to promote khadi and handloom products to the global audience, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai kickstarted a unique virtual handloom exhibition on October 17, 2020. The month-long virtual exhibition will feature around 400 handloom products of more than 200 exhibitors (including artisans, weavers, designers, merchant exporters and NGOs) to at least 10,000 visitors from across the globe.
It is time India conquers its historically premier position in world trade of textile goods. Historical documents suggest that by the end of the 17th century, 83% of the trade of The East India Company accounted for clothing exports. It is also found that Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh was the hub for international trade with exports to Egypt, Poland, Russia and the Gulf region.
