Coimbatore : The Indian textile industry can become a US 300 billion US dollar industry by 2030 and create an additional 35 million jobs, CII Tamil Nadu State Council Vice Chairman, Hari Thiagarajan said today.

This can be achieved if the industry enhanced its focus on exporting higher value added products, modernisation and sustainable business practices, Hari Thiagarajan said in his address at the 2nd Edition of Weaves 2019, organised at nearby Erode.

Synthetic fabrics and performance garments are going to be two most promising segment, he pointed out.

The industry accounted for five per cent of India’s GDP and 13 per cent of the country’s export earnings and employed about 50 million people , he said.

Stating that It has proved to be highly productive and globally competitive across the value chain – from farm to fibre, he said its future however depended on sustainable manufacturing practices, transparency, and its readiness to transform itself into a circular economy, he said.

Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Chairman, T Rajkumar pointed out the Indian textile industry is highly-fragmented and facing unprecedented challenges in the recent past.

Though the global recession was a main factor for the setbacks faced by the industry, the imports of yarns, fabrics, and garments from Bangladesh and SAARC region pose a major threat to the local industry, Rajkumar said and urged the Centre to help the industry in the areas of export promotion, access to working capital, and loan restructuring.

Indian Texpreneurs Federation Convenor, Prabhu Dhamodharan, in his address, said that nowhere in India the textile industry is well established and vibrant than it is in the State of Tamil Nadu.

The textile business in the state is nurtured by entrepreneurs with their own investment for over three generations and there is a major textile venture or a textile cluster for every 60 kms, he said.

It would need over 1.5 lakh crore investment to replicate Tamil Nadu’s textile business infrastructure in any other state, Prabhu Dhamodhaan said.

Weaves 2019, a South India’s premier textile fair, is a four-day exhibition and conference, organised by Texvalley in association with the CII and attracted the participation of 200 exhibitors representing a wide cross section of the textile industry, from yarns, fabrics, handlooms, and ready made garments.