The Indian textile industry faces a critical "10-year window" to capitalise on its labour advantage before automation significantly reshapes the necessity of manual manufacturing.
In order to utilise this labour productivity Venkat Holla, assistant vice president of projects at Kitex Group, argued for a shift in government support. "We must move from capital subsidies to productivity-linked incentives," he said at the Asian Textile Conference 2026.
Additionally, the integration of worker welfare including housing and healthcare within textile parks such as PM MITRA is not just a prerequisite for global competitiveness rather than an optional benefit, according to an official release from the conference.
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy inaugurated the Atexcon 2026 to address a "permacrisis" in the world due to geopolitical shifts and rapid technological disruption. The conference aimed to discuss India's path to its 2030 export targets, highlighting the transition from volume-based models to innovation-driven ecosystems.
The textile industry should adopt an agile model instead of a stable, scale driven approach amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions.
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Market expert Harish Bijur observed, "The textile industry must transition from stability to adaptability. Organizations that fail to innovate risk becoming obsolete."
He noted that while scale driven firms control 73% of turnover, they must adopt a speed driven models to capture the remaining 27% of high-value, consumer-centric markets. This agility is essential to navigate the current "10-year window" before automation fundamentally alters the labor-intensive manufacturing landscape.
However, industry experts also highlight that volume alone is not enough anymore. "While increasing export volumes is important, the focus should also be on enhancing value addition to drive higher unit value realization," Rakesh Mehra, chairperson of CIT, said.
Additionally, the industry's shift from a high-volume to a high-value leader is led by a new Five-Point Agenda aiming for $100 billion in exports by 2030. The global apparel market, valued at over $500 billion, is undergoing a massive structural shift, the release said.
As China's market share declines due to rising wages, competitors such as Vietnam and Bangladesh have rapidly filled the void. India, despite its massive raw material base, faces internal challenges in productivity and scale.
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