Welspun Living sees the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) opening a major opportunity for Indian home-textile companies to gain market share in the UK, particularly from Pakistan. Pakistan accounts for around 55% of the UK home-textiles market, while India’s share is only 6-7%, according to Dipali Goenka, MD & CEO of Welspun Living.
“We will grow at a double-digit growth. Having said that, we already front-end our investments and the demand that is there is not in the position of just being a manufacturer, but as a partner where the strategic partnerships are what we are looking at.”
Goenka said global retailers are increasingly looking at India because of its stable democracy, strong supply chain, cotton availability, large micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) ecosystem and infrastructure. She said discussions with retailers had already started when the FTA was announced, with conversations now focused on partnerships over the next two to three years.
She also believes home textiles could benefit more than apparel from the trade agreement because India has an integrated supply chain covering cotton, spinning, weaving and manufacturing.
“Garments and home textiles are very different. Garments actually are manufactured as a fabric platforming across the globe and they can do it. For home textiles, it’s a complete integrated supply chain, which we have as India.”
