Textile industry in India

Rieter, Trutzschler, Saurer, Soktas, Zambiati, Bilsar, Monti, CMT, E-land, Nisshinbo, Marks & Spencer, Zara, Promod, Benetton, and Levi’s are some of the foreign textile companies invested or working in India.

[8] Between January and July 2021, India exported textile products worth Rs 1.77 lakh crore, which is 52.6% more than the same period last year.

[9] Archaeological surveys and studies have indicated that the people of Harrapan civilization were familiar with weaving and spinning cotton as early as four thousand years ago.

[14] The main center of cotton production was the Bengal Subah province, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka.

[18] As Karl Marx noted in 1853, the textile industry was a major component of economic income in the pre-colonial Indian economy, writing that "The hand-loom and the spinning-wheel, producing their regular myriads of spinners and weavers, were the pivots of the structure of that society".

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, The Mughal Empire accounted for 95% of British imports from Asia, conducted through the auspices of the East India Company (EIC).

The EIC convinced many farmers to switch from subsistence farming to producing and exporting huge amounts of cotton, after a long period of government protectionism imposed over the British textile industry.

Availability of raw materials, market, transport, labour, moist climate and other factors contributed to localisation.

In the early twentieth century, this industry played a huge role in Bombay's economy but soon declined after independence.

Challenges faced by the industry include stiff competition in the international market from synthetic substitutes and from other countries such as Bangladesh, Brazil, Philippines, Egypt and Thailand.

In 2005, the National Jute Policy[27] was formulated with the objective of improving quality, increasing productivity and enhancing the yield of the crop.

India manufactures a diverse range of silk products, including clothing, household items, textiles, threads, floor coverings, and various accessories.

The major functions of the Ministry of Textiles are formulating policy and coordination of man-made fiber, cotton, jute, silk, wool industries, decentralization of power loom sector, promotion of exports, planning & economic analysis, finance and promoting use of information technology.