Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Home textiles - the next big opportunity for Indian firms
By agencies
|
Tuesday, 13 September 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: After garments, home furnishing is emerging as the next hot destination for textile players. Exports of home textiles like bed, bath and kitchen linen have zoomed over the past six months, after the dismantling of quotas, sparking off a fresh wave of investment in the segment.
Larger players like Welspun India and Abhishek Industries, are pouring big money to expand capacities. Smaller companies like Gangotri Textiles, KG Denim, S Kumars Nationwide, Bannari Amman Spinning- some of whom are in unrelated businesses, are also foraying into home textiles.
GHCL (Gujarat Heavy Chemicals), which has a spinning division, plans to get ahead in the race by acquiring companies in the U.S. and Europe.
Home textiles as a segment, is very exciting both for domestic and exports markets. On the domestic front, while the domestic consumption is pretty large and growing quite fast, there are hardly any brand or retail chains focused on this segment.
Similarly in exports, Indian textile companies have not put enough wide- width capacity due to quota issues, but now there are more than 15 new projects coming up and India's share (currently at 7.3 percent of world trade) is bound to grow.
Retailing consultants KSA Technopak expects India's home textile exports to grow from $1.2 billion presently to $5 billion by 2010. With manufacturing facilities closing down in the West, international retailers are stepping up their sourcing of home textiles from India, China and Pakistan.
The segment, which has till now, been largely unorganized, is attracting investment from outfits that are betting big on export growth.
Besides, home textiles appears to be a good way to scale up the value chain or diversify as is the case with companies such as KG Denim and Aarvee Denim. For fabric players, home textiles might prove to be a logical extension to their existing business.
But despite the potential in the domestic market, new entrants appear to be focusing on exports. The large investments in brand building and distribution that would be required to become a prominent player in the domestic market could be a reason for this.