US keen to invest in Indian knitwear sector

Our Bureau

Tirupur, May 16: THE US is looking at ways to involve itself in terms of investments in the Indian knitwear industry, according to Bernard Alter, Consul General, US Consulate, Chennai.

Inaugurating the 11th India Knit Fair here on Wednesday, he said the industry needs to move up the value chain and improve share in the higher end of the market. ‘‘There is a long way to go for capturing the higher end of the market. The industry must seriously consider graduating itself into high price ranges,’’ he added.
Knitwear exports to the US in 2000 was to the tune of $ 2043 million, registering an increase of 7.73 per cent in value compared to the year before.

Though Mr Alter said the US textile manufacturers were wishing for joint venture opportunities in areas like technology transfer and marketing and would look keenly at Indian regulations, he admitted that his office was striving to provide necessary impetus to meaningful tie-ups.

‘‘We are impressed with the skills of the Indian entrepreneur. There is enough scope to increase imports of knitwear from India, he said. However, he admitted that the talks were at a nascent stage and efforts are on to speed up the pace.

The knitwear exporters here, it may be noted, have shown keen interest to forge tie-ups with manufacturers in the US. ‘‘There are many US manufacturers with known brand names closing shops. We can have joint ventures with them to transfer the technology, manufacture under their brand names and enter into a buy-back arrangement. Our share in the US market would improve, said A Sakthivel, president of Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA). ‘‘It must be realised that the comparative advantages we enjoy have also been developed by competing countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

These countries have attracted foreign investments in knitting, processing, production of trimmings and embellishments and sports wear, he added. The TEA president says that a team from the US will visit Tirupur during the last week of May to further study the feasibility of collaborating with units here.