Denim majors of Gujarat have plans to diversify into denim apparel and home furnishing segment to take advantage of the ongoing retail boom and set off its market share loss in European Union's (EU) denim market.
Of the total denim produced in India, over 70 percent was exported till recently. Turkey and China have emerged as strong contenders in the present times. Turkey has geographical advantage of proximity with the EU.
An outlay of over Rs700 crore to make home furnishings for export markets has been envisaged by denim companies, Aarvee Denim, Jindal Worldwide and Nandan Exim.
Aarvee Denim has plans to first diversify into home furnishings with an investment of Rs100 crore before venturing into garments.
"Our company was so far 90 percent dependent on denim business and so we wanted to diversify into other segment, mainly in the emerging home furnishings production with the help of our expertise in the textile industry," said Ashish Shah, Managing Director, Aarvee Denim.
Present market scenario has prompted Indian denim-makers to go for domestic marketing of fabrics, whereas Aarvee or Arvind Mills will exclusively manufacture garments for exports.
"I feel that as far as countries under the EU are concerned, Turkey has started scoring a point over India. I feel that the Indian units, the denim-makers, need to be more aggressive," said Nayan Parikh, Chairman of Textiles Committee of the Government of India.
Denim-makers are on the look out for premises to set up their retail outlets for denim garments in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, followed by other cities.