India can emerge as leading destination for global textile, apparel value chain: Minister

India has unique advantages like raw material availability, a huge labour pool and well-established textile industry to become a leading destination for global textile and apparel value chain, Union Minister Darshana Vikram Jardosh said on Thursday. The minister also noted that the global textiles and apparel trade has gone through various ups and downs in the last decade due to social and geographical factors.

India has unique advantages due to raw material availability, huge labour pool, mature and well-established textile and apparel industry and strong domestic market, she said.

“These unique advantages can help position India as the leading destination for the global textile and apparel value chain. India has an opportunity to occupy more than 15 per cent of global trade creating 40-50 lakh jobs that would help strengthen the country’s economy,” the Minister of State for Textiles said at a CII conference on textiles.

The textiles and apparel industry in India is the second largest employer in the country after agriculture, providing direct employment to 4.5 crore people and 10 crore people in allied industries.

The domestic apparel and textile industry in India contributes approximately 2.3 per cent to the country’s GDP, 13 per cent to industrial production and 12 per cent to exports. India has a 4 per cent share of the global trade in textiles and apparel.

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