Investors are always on the lookout for profitable option, however, considering the present day scenario of volatility, especially with the GST coming in anytime now, it might be a little easier to speculate and invest in a textile product which is not only safe but profitable as well. In fact for what it’s worth, most businessmen and traders wish to put in their money on something that assures them of the following factors:
- Higher Margins of Profit
- Sustainability
- Lower Periods of Gestation
- Assured Returns
- Ease in Debt Repayment
While it is the conventional textiles which enjoy the better part of the market’s capital, businesses are now looking forward to diversifying, in order to avert the expenditures incurred in this capital and labour incentive segment.
While carpets, handloom and other textiles involving man-made fabrics show promise, the market for these is rather saturated and thus leaves little or no scope for new entrants. Moreover, some of these products, especially rugs and carpets that require fine craftsmanship, take up a lot of resources in terms of money as well as skilled labour for manufacturing, which makes them a non-viable alternative.
On the other hand, the technical textiles is one segment that is showing a great promise, without too may strings attached. Given that products of this segment are only in their introductory phase, at least in India, the speculated growth rate of technical textiles is rather impressive. With a substantial growth of over 16% in the decade of 2001 to 2010, this segment is expected to register a consistent growth of 20% per year. Pertaining to this growth, the market size for technical textiles by the year 2017, will be close to $36 billion! Moreover, since technical textile products are highly engineered and manufactured for very specific purposes on the basis of their functional properties, thus making them high value products and ensuring higher returns and eventually better profit margins.
As of the current scenario, the disposable income with Indian consumers is growing at a steady level, which in turn will enable them to make greater purchases on products related to sport textiles, home textiles, medical textile etc. Moreover, in the coming five years, the middle income group which comprises of over 300 million people will increase to approx. 520 million, thus creating an unparalleled opportunity for growth for the technical textile sector. Here the demographic hold high importance, especially because the middle class is:
- Fairly educated
- Receptive to disposable products
- On the lookout for more and more products pertaining to technical textiles
- Contributing to the growth of organised retail sector in the nation
Furthermore, a large chunk of the nation’s population is currently below the age of 25, which ensures an even better growth prospect for this segment, and in fact, for any other segment as well.
Technical textiles make for a great investment option, especially because of their immense range of applications. With the increasingly growing demands from the consumers as well as other industries, the pool of opportunities that lie ahead seem never ending. At present the contribution of India towards global technical textiles is a meagre 9 percent. Given that there aren’t many players in the market, there is a good chance that India can make its own mark in the segment, sooner rather than later.
This can be deduced from the fact that India has certain advantages over the developed nations including but not limited to inexpensive labour, and abundance of raw material, a steadily increasing population, a promising infrastructure development as well as sky-rocketing industrial growth. All of these combined will surely make investment in technical textiles worth the time effort and resources of businessmen and traders alike.
