Home Textile Industry: A Brief Overview

Textiles are primarily used for three industries: apparel, home furnishings,
and industrial uses. Home textiles can be defined as non-apparel (exclude
apparels/garment Products) textile end-products (They do not require further
manufacturing or processing, can directly used) having non-industrial
utilities. Although they are categorized as home textiles but their usage is not
restricted to homes but to commercial premises as hotels, hospitals,
institutes, offices, etc.

A home furnishing includes bedspreads and covers, quilts, rugs, pillow

covers, carpets/mattresses, towels, carpets, curtains, table cloth, napkins,
sofa or chair covers etc. these products can be classified into broader
categories such as bed, bath, kitchen, upholstery, and curtains and carpets.

Categories wise analysis:

Bed Linen: This category includes products such as bed-sheets, bed-

spreads, bed covers, pillow cases, rugs, quilts etc. These products are the
basic necessities, and thus this category is the largest in the home textile
product basket in India.

Bath Linen: Bath towels are also to an extent a basic necessity. It is the
second largest category in the home textile product basket in India. The
members of a low income family usually share towels among themselves.
However, due to increasing awareness of hygiene, the preference for
independent bathing towels for each member of the family growing. The
growth in this category has a linear relationship with the growth in
population.

Napkins and Kitchen Linen: The increasing hygiene awareness has

resulted in the purchase of costlier branded products and table linen.

Curtains, Mattresses and Upholstery: The penetration of curtains,

mattresses and upholstery is relatively lower in the Indian households
compared with countries in the West. Their usage is mainly restricted to
households with one bedroom, hall and kitchen and above. Low income
households often use old fabrics or rugs as curtains. It is the smallest
category in the home textile sales to the households. With increasing income
levels and higher standard of living it will result into increase the usage of
curtains in the Indian households.
Home Textile: Industry Players
There are thousands of home textile manufacturers in India, mainly in the
unorganized sector. The domestic demand is mainly catered to by the
unorganized segment while the organized players primarily cater to the
export market. The few key players in the unorganised sector of the Indian
home textile industry are:

1. Alok Industries Limited

2. Abhishek Industries Limited
3. Alps Industries Limited
4. Welspun India Limited
5. Bombay Dyeing and Printing Industries

Major Home Textile Hubs In India

The major home textile hubs in India are as below :

• Karur, is a small town in Southern India that specializes in the

production of home textiles.
• Panipat located in the state of Haryana is a major producer of woollen
home textile products.
• Cannanore, located in South India, is another hub that is well known
for the production of home textiles.
• Chennai has emerged as a major production and export hub for home
textiles.
• Delhi & Mumbai is also one of the major production and export centers
for home textiles.
• Bengalooru has emerged as a manufacturing and export hub for home
textiles, especially in silk.
• Mirzapur and Badhohi are major centers for the production of floor
coverings and carpets.
• Jaipur has also become an important centre for the production of home
textiles, especially those using the traditional techniques of tie-and-
dye, block printing and appliqué.

Current trends in the Industry

Countries like China, India, Bangladesh, etc. have the distinct advantage of
low labor costs. Further India and China also have a very strong raw material
base. Thus the cost of production of textile products in these countries is
significantly lower than other countries like US and EU. Earlier the quotas
under MFA restricted the quantum of exports of textile products from low-
cost producers to the US, EU and Canada. The quotas were specifically
introduced to protect the indigenous textile companies in these countries.
However the complete abolition of quotas from January 2005 has resulted in
free trade of textile products across the globe, thus rendering companies
based in the US and EU not cost-competitive. Accordingly, the textiles
companies in these regions are shutting down and the capacities are shifting
from west to the low cost eastern countries.

Advantages in Indian home textiles

• Strong raw material base

• Cost-competitive in fabric production
• Low labor cost
• Presence across the value chain

Challenges for the domestic home textiles

• Rigid labour laws and low labour productivity

• Fragmentation and weak weaving and processing sectors
• Infrastructural bottlenecks
• Domestics price war
• Severe competition from other countries

Indian home textile companies looking abroad

As we know the removal of quotas has given the Indian textile companies
unrestricted access to the global market. Many companies in the US and EU
are shutting their operations due to high costs and Indian companies are
buying out these ailing units. The main reason behind such acquisitions is not
to obtain the manufacturing capacities but to gain access and control of
foreign markets by utilizing the already established brand name, distribution
channels, marketing platform and customer base of the company bought out.

Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited (GHCL) has acquired a 100 per cent stake
in Rosebys, the largest home textile retail chain company in UK for $40
million. Rosebys had a strong presence in bedding, curtains and kid’s
garments, with more than 300 retail outlets across UK. Prior to this GHCL
had acquired nearly 90 per cent stake in Dan River Inc, a leading home
textile player in the US for $17.5 million.

Many textile companies in India are planning to foray into the home textile
business. Home textiles are value-added products, and thus comparatively
more profitable than traditional spinning, weaving and processing business.
To convert the processed fabric into a home textile product, lower cost and
effort is required but the value addition is higher and thus the realizations of
home textile products are significantly higher than that of processed fabrics.
Also since the home textile and garment manufacturing capacities are
shifting from high-cost countries in the West to low cost countries in the East
including India direct export of yarns and fabrics to the western countries are
expected to slow down. Hence many companies manufacturing yarns and
fabrics have aptly decided to foray into the home textile business.

Brand equity in home textile market

Brand equity in home textiles market is weak compared to other consumer

goods. For the end consumer products are defined more by their attributes
and price point rather than their brand name. This provides the retail
channels a high degree of leverage in their relationship with the suppliers
and the ability to execute a private label brand strategy. The decisions of
consumers to purchase home textiles are not as brand driven as apparel and
other consumer products. The retail channels are making consumers aware
about product attributes. As a result the US consumer focuses more on
product attributes and price point instead of brand names. This may lead to
higher outsourcing and therefore more opportunities for exports to the US
market.

Conclusion

India, with the advantages of low cost of production, availability of raw

material and labour, muliti-production centers and vivid home textile
products, has the potential and scope for emergence as one of the major
players / producers of home textile products in the world. This can be
achieved, if India could present consumer and pocket-friendly products
through research oriented innovative production techniques, strong logistic
systems and quality products.