Impact of the global trade war on textile exports: India has a great business potential for home textiles in the ongoing trade war because we are not only the largest producer of cotton, but also the largest exporter. India’s strength in cotton is going to be far higher than others. The Centre’s policy supporting exports should further help textile companies re-establish themselves. The integrated operation is a big advantage for textile companies. Earlier, China used to provide subsidies and calibrate currency to support exports. It also had the advantage of cheap manpower, which is slowly fading. However, I would add that nobody can live without China. They have put up massive capacity in each of the sectors. It will take many years for the US to build capacity that can match China’s. The way we are heading towards protectionism in the US and the UK, the biggest challenge is we cannot live without one another. If India has advantage in cotton textile, nobody can match China in polyester.

Does Bangladesh still enjoy trade concessions in textile exports to the US? I believe the US has withdrawn the trade concession given to Bangladesh. The advantage for Bangladesh is that they have a stronger currency and lower labour cost. Their core strength was in garments largely due to low labour cost. The complete integration from weaving to spinning to final product is India’s advantage. The integration is the core in home textiles.

Progress on investments in innovation: We have filed patent applications for 30 products. Of these, 12 have been granted patent. We believe Hygrocotton and Wel-Trak have good scope. Welspun’s Hygrocotton itself is a $200-million brand and growing strongly. We launched Wel-Trak about a year and a half back to track the source of the fibre. It is a sort of the advent of the blockchain technology. Our innovation revolves around consumer needs.

Plan to grow in the domestic market: India will be the next growth driver for home textiles. Products made of Hygrocotton itself, has seen a 25 per cent growth. The appetite for differentiated products in India is growing with discerning consumers who are looking at value not in terms of price but quality. We have a set a Rs 1,000-crore revenue target in India and our journey has just begun. We set up a new team to focus on the domestic market.