Apparel September 2019 Apparel September 2019 issue | Page 22

MARKET WATCH
The Clothing Manufacturers Association of
India (CMAI) Welcomes the changes made in
the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Rules under
Single-Brand Retail. Giving his reaction on the
same, Mr Rahul Mehta, President, CMAI, stated
that the ease in FDI Rules will provide Greater
Flexibility to Global Fashion Brands. This will help
to improve the Retail landscape of India, increase
Investments, and eventually, Employment in
the Country.
However, CMAI is concerned that this could
possibly affect Garment Manufacturing in the
Country. The eased Rules will provide Brands
with Greater Liberty to Source globally, depending
mainly on the Cost-Competitiveness. This
might result in Brands limiting their Sourcing
requirement from India to only 30 per cent in
Blocks of five years, including Sourcing for
Exports. In such a scenario, it is important
that these Sourcing Clauses are very closely
monitored to ensure that Sourcing from India
continuously increases, so as to be in sync with
the Government’s ‘Make in India’ drive.
Ease in FDI Rules Will
Boost Retail, but We Need
to Monitor its Impact
on Manufacturing
R|Elan™ and Neva
Garments Team Up for a
New Performance Range
R|Elan™, the next-generation fabric from
Reliance Industries (RIL), enters a tie-up with
Ludhiana-based Neva Garments, a leading
value fashion retailer, to create and market a
range of apparel made from R|Elan™ Kooltex
and R|Elan™ FeelFresh performance fabrics.
The arrangement will enable Neva to offer the
best quality R|Elan™ fabric-based solutions to
its consumers, who are seeking more and more
comfortable apparel in activewear, athleisure,
sportswear, sleepwear, and inner wear.
Neva Garments and R|Elan™ jointly held a
trade partners’ meet and fashion show in New
Delhi, to showcase their latest Spring Summer
2020 range of apparel. Around 350 retail partners
who attended the meet admired this upcoming
range of high-performance apparel, including
new-age functionality offerings from Neva.
The brand has already started leveraging
this strong synergy and is contemplating
extending this partnership in both domestic
and international markets across the above-
mentioned apparel categories.
India’s Retail Sector to Grow by 14 Per Cent by 2021
As per the recent report by CARE Ratings, India’s retail sector is poised to grow by 12–14 per cent over the next three
years to reach $1,150 billion by 2021. This growth will be driven by factors such as higher demand from consumers
with higher incomes, job creation, improved standard of living, brand awareness, higher discretionary spending, higher
participation of producers/retailers in the organised retail market, discounted and promotional pricing, increased number
of products and more private retail labels, among others.
According to a credit ratings agency, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to go up to 7.3 per cent
by FY21. Private final consumption expenditure, which has grown by 10–12 per cent historically, is expected to grow by
10–11 per cent year-on-year until 2021.
The retail sector contributes around 10 per cent of the country’s GDP, around eight per cent of employment, and is
valued at $792 billion as of 2018.
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I APPAREL I
September 2019