ABOUT TEA

Tirupur was an obscure town once has now been placed in the knitwear map of global apart from catering to the whole India. Tirupur is the Country’s largest textile cluster and accounts for 90% of the country’s cotton knitwear exports. The success story of Tirupur can be mainly attributed to the entrepreneurial skills of the people coupled with hard work and commitment to the job.


The achievement is from Three million to three billion in three decade.


In the last financial year 2021-22, Knitwear Exports from Tirupur clocked Rs. 33,525 Crore, US $ 4.5 Bn, which is 1.08% of Merchandise Exports from our Country.


TIRUPUR KNITWEAR EXPORTS

Tirupur is contributing about 55% of total knitwear exports from our country and is exporting only cotton based garments. There is a good scope for increasing our market share in the global from the current level of about 2.6% by exporting value added products and synthetic products. The following table compares the with knitwear exports of Tirupur with all India exports.

Tirupur Knitwear sector employs Six Lakh Workers directly, out of this, 65% are semi-literate women workers hailing from rural areas and Two Lakh workers indirectly.

Knitwear Exports

(Value in Rs. Cr)

 

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2032-24
(APR-SEP)
(P)

All India

54,692

53,199

46,890

60,950

61,764

27,515

Tirupur

27,650

27,280

24,750

33,525

34,350

15,135

Share (%)

50.6

51.3

52.8

55.0

55.6

55.0


(Value in US $ Mn)

 

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

2021-22

2022-23

2023-24
(APR-SEP)
(P)

All India

7,820

7,501

6,347

8,173

7,705

3,340

Tirupur

3,954

3,846

3,350

4,496

4,285

1,835

Share (%)

50.6

51.3

52.8

55.0

55.6

55.0


In 2022-23, Tamil Nadu Merchandise exports clocked Rs. 3,26,711 Crore, whereas Tiruppur Knitwear exports recorded Rs. 34,350 Crore with a share of 10.5%.

Domestic Business

Tirupur knitwear sales in the domestic market is Rs.27,000 Crore and is growing significantly in recent years.

Chronological growth of Tirupur

The first knitwear unit in Tirupur was set up in 1925 and the growth of the industry was slow till late 1930s.  A series of strikes in late 1930s in knitting factories in the neighboring towns of Salem and Madurai resulted in the opening of new firms in Tirupur.  Subsequently, it emerged as the prominent centre for knitwear in South India by 1940s. In 1942, 34 units were engaged in the production of knitwear all these units were composite mills and the production was carried out in the same unit (sic).  There are also references to some units performing specific tasks / operations like bleaching and dyeing, located in the larger units. By 1961, the number of units rose to 230 and till early 1970s, the industry catered only to the domestic market. These units were mostly composite mills without any subcontracting system of production.  It was in the 1980s, the export market began to expand and subsequently Tirupur emerged as the largest exporter of cotton knitwear from the country, accounting for roughly 80 percent of the total cotton knitwear exporters.

Commencement of Exports

Tirupur’s direct exports started with Italy. Verona, a garment importer from Italy came to Tirupur in 1978 through Mumbai exporters to buy white T-shirts. A lot of job workers were manufacturing garments for merchant exporters. He realised the potential and came to Tirupur the following year. Verona was the man who brought European business to Tirupur. On seeing the quality, others soon followed suit. In 1981 European retail chain C&A came. Gradually, other stores also approached the exporters for supplying of garments.

A handful of manufacturers exported garments worth Rs.15 crore in 1985. The next couple of year was a windfall for Tirupur as exports touched Rs.300 crore in 1990.


CAPACITY OF UNITS IN VARIOUS OPERATIONS

Tirupur is known for the cluster activity and mostly each stage of the processing of garment making is normally being carried out by outside units say, Knitting units, Dyeing & Bleaching Units, Fabric Printing, Garmenting, Embroidery, Compacting and Calendaring and other ancillary units. The following table shows the number of units functioning to carryout the respective activities.

Operations

Number of Units

Knitting

1150

Dyeing

360

Bleaching

50

Printing

900

Garment Making

Exporting units

Domestic and job working unit

 

1,300

6,000

Embroidery

600

Other Ancillary Units

8850

Compacting and Calendaring

790

Total

20,000



FORMATION OF TEA

Tirupur Exporters’ Association popularly known as TEA was set up in the year 1990 in Tirupur under the leadership of Dr. A. Sakthivel and strived for the development of exports and also Tirupur. TEA has always been very quick in taking up the issues and stand in forefront to get them addressed. Dr. A. Sakthivel was the president of association till 27th September 2016 from the inception of the association.

Shri Raja M Shanmugham was president of the association from 2016-2022, for two term, Six years.

Shri.K.M.Subramanian was elected as President of the Association and he assumed office on 1st October 2022.

As on November 2023, TEA consisting of 1283 knitwear exporting units as the members.

YEAR-WISE TIRUPUR EXPORT DATA

Year

Quantity (Lakh Pieces)

Value (Rs)

US Dollar / Rupee

Value in (US $ Mn)

1984

104.2

9.69

11.37

8.52

1985

172.1

18.69

12.36

15.12

1986

288.7

37.48

12.61

29.73

1987

333.56

74.49

12.96

57.50

1988

459.06

104.24

13.91

74.91

1989

614

167.39

16.22

103.18

1990

888.73

289.85

17.50

165.64

1991

905.11

429.48

22.69

189.29

1992

1399

774.93

25.92

298.96

1993

1893

1162.43

31.45

369.66

1994

1964

1318

31.37

420.09

1995

2171

1591.83

32.42

490.95

1996

2574

1897

35.43

535.43

1997

2983

2255

36.32

620.88

1998

3461

2619

41.27

634.64

1999

3764

3067

43.05

712.45

2000

4243

3581

44.94

796.84

2001

3831

3528

47.19

747.68

2002

3580

3250

48.60

668.73

2003

3812

3896

46.58

836.38

2004

4114

4468.75

45.32

986.12

2004 – 2005

 

6,500.00

44.93

1446.60

2005 – 2006

 

8,500.00

44.28

1919.75

2006 – 2007

 

11,000.00

45.26

2430.60

2007 – 2008

 

9,950.00

40.27

2470.78

2008 – 2009

 

11,250.00

46.09

2441.00

2009 – 2010

 

11,500.00

47.43

2424.41

2010 – 2011 

 

12,500.00

45.54

2745.09

2011 – 2012 

 

12,500.00

47.85

2612.53

2012 – 2013

 

13,000.00

54.44

2387.74

2013 -  2014

 

18,000.00

60.59

2970.61

2014 – 2015

 

21,000.00

61.15

3434.29

2015 - 2016 

 

22,060.00

65.43

3371.34

2016 - 2017

 

23,620.00

67.07

3521.95

2017 - 2018

 

24,060.00

64.46

3732.33

2018 - 2019

 

27,650.00

69.94

3953.54

2019 - 2020

 

27,280.00

70.92

3846.48

2020 - 2021

 

24,750.00

73.88

3350.03

2021 - 2022

 

33,525.00

74.57

4495.78

2022 - 2023

 

34350.00

80.16

4285.00

2023 - 2024
(APR-SEP) (P)

 

15,135.00

82.32

1835.00


As far as the export is concerned, all leading brands Nike, Cutter & Buck, Tommy Hilfigure, Point Zero, Fruit of Looms, Adidas, GAP, Katzenberg, Van Hussain, Fila, Arrow, TESCO, S Oliver, Inditex (Zara), US Polo etc., and leading chain stores like C&A, WalMart, Target, Primark, Sears and Mothers Care, H&M, Decathlon, Carrefour, Lindex, Hanes Brand, Polo, Ralph Lauren, NEXT, Kiabi, Columbia Sportswear, Bhs, Aldi stores, Guess Jeans & Spring Field etc., are sourcing from Tirupur.

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