India invests in cotton textiles

From 2000 B.C., India has made art and commerce out of cotton textiles, and it is this expertise that may lead India’s resurgence in exports of high-end cotton textiles, knitwear and hosiery, according to Hari Sud, former vice president of C-I-L Inc. and investment strategies analyst. China is the world’s largest cotton producer, but Sud (writing for UPI Asia Online) thinks that India could challenge China for the cotton market with more foreign investments, upgraded plants and technology, quicker response to market forces and finer-quality cotton textiles. An additional investment of $35 billion during the next five years will help raise India’s exports to approximately $50 billion in 2010—still much less than the $160 billion in Chinese exports today. “India for the next 10 years will be chasing China’s advantage in textiles,” says Sud, but in coming years he expects the rivalry to heat up.